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FEOM  THK 


FALL  OF  WOLSEY  TO  THE  DEATH  OF  ELIZABETH. 


REIGX   OF  ELIZABETH. 
VOLUME  IV. 


HISTORY   OF  ENGLAND 


FROM 


THE  FALL   OF   WOLSEY 


TO 


THE  DEATH   OF   ELIZABETH. 


BT 

JAMES  ANTHONY  FROUDE,  M.A. 

LATE  FELLOW   OF   EXETER   COLLEGE,   OXFORD. 


y ,  io\ 


EEIGX  OF  ELIZABETH. 
VOLUME  IV. 


' . .    .    .    '.•  .      ., »  . 


NEW   YORK: 
CHARLES   SCRIBNER   AND   COMPANY. 

1867. 


MTERSIDE,    CAMBRIDGE  : 

STEEEOTTPED    AND    PRINTED    BT 

H.   0.   HOUGHTON  AND   COMPANY. 


•    •    •      •     • 


•  •  •      • 
•         •  • 


*•'    ■;     :   ■'  V  ' ' 


CONTENTS  OF  VOLUME  X. 


CHAPTER  XIX. 


PAGE 

2 


Situation  of  the  European  Powers 

Good  Fortune  of  Elizabeth      , 3 

The  Xew  and  the  Old  Creed  in  England  ....  4 
Manifesto  of  Elizabeth  to  the  English  Nation  ...  5 
Sense  in  -which  the  Queen  was  Head  of  the  Church  .  .  8 
The  Pope  determines  to  excommunicate  Elizabeth  .  .  10 
Letter  of  the  Pope  to  the  Earls  of  Westmoreland  and  North- 
umberland          10 

Plans  for  the  Escape  of  the  Queen  of  Scots     ...  14 
Reply  of  Elizabeth  to  the  demands  of  France  for  the  Queen 

of  Scots' Release 17 

State  of  Parties  in  France 19 

Ehzabeth's  Intentions  towards  the  Queen  of  Scots       .         .  21 
Change  in  the  Scotch  Character  produced  by  the  Reforma- 
tion      .........  23 

Funeral  of  the  Regent  Murray 24 

Randolph  at  Edinburgh 26 

Unwillingness  of  Elizabeth  to  support  the  Scotch  Protestants  30 

The  Catholic  Refugees 31 

Maitland  of  Lidington 32 

Maitland  and  Knox 34 

Letter  of  ]\Iaitland  to  Elizabeth 35 

The  Catholic  Nobles  replaced  in  the  English  Council .         .  37 

Catholic  Convention  at  Linlithgow 40 

The  Earl  of  Sussex  invades  Scotland 42 

The  Harrying  of  the  Border 43 

Correspondence  of  Mary  Stuart  with  the  Catholic  Powers  .  48 

Divisions  among  the  Catholics  in  England        .         .         .  49 

Danger  of  War  with  France 51 


VI 


Contents. 


PAGE 

Letter  of  Elizabeth  to  the  Earl  of  Sussex        .         .         .  51 

Morton  insists  on  her  declaring  openly  for  King  James        .  53 

Negotiations  for  the  Restoration  of  the  Queen  of  Scots  .  54 

The  Bishop  of  Ross 65 

Second  Invasion  of  Scotland    ......  58 

Destruction  of  Hamilton  Castle 69 

Publication  in  London  of  the  Bull  of  Excommunication  .  61 
Meeting  of  the  Council        .         .         .         .         .         •         .62 

Speech  of  Sir  N.  Bacon  .......  63 

Speech  of  Lord  Arundel      .......  64 

Plans  for  a  Rebellion  in  England      .....  68 

Symptoms  of  Disaffection  among  the  Catholic  Nobles .         .  70 

Temper  of  Elizabeth        .......  71 

Prospect  of  Peace  in  France        ......  74 

The  Earl  of  Lennox  declared  Regent  of  Scotland  .        .  76 

The  Privateers  in  the  Channel     ......  77 

Reluctance  of  Philip  to  quarrel  with  England  ...  79 
Opinions  of  Bacon  and  Cecil  on  the  proposed  Restoration 

of  the  Queen  of  Scots       ......  81 

Arrest  and  Execution  of  Felton       .        .        .         .        .  82 

Seizure  of  Dr.  Story  at  Antwerp         .        .         .         .         .84 

Efforts  of  the  English  Catholics  to  rouse  the  Duke  of  Alva  86 

Alva  refuses  to  move        .......  88 

Intrigues  of  Maitland  ........  90 

Correspondence  between  Maitland  and  Sussex        .         .  92 

Elizabeth  seriously  resolves  to  reinstate  Mary  Stuart  .         .  94 

Letter  from  Lady  Lennox  to  Cecil  .....  96 

Conditions  of  the  Restoration 97 

Maitland  at  Blair  Athol 99 

Cecil  is  sent  down  to  Chatsworth  .         .         .         .         .103 

The  Norfolk  Marriage 104 


CHAPTER  XX. 


English  Commerce  in  1570 

Protestantism  and  Privateering 

The  Puritans 

Catholic  Reaction     . 

The  Church  at  Northampton 

Articles  of  Faith 


107 
108 
108 
110 
113 
114 


Contents. 


VH 


PAOB 

Thomas  Cartwright  at  Cambridge 115 

Whitglft  and  High  Anglicanism 116 

Cecil  and  Mary  Stuart 118 

Peace  in  France 122 

Sir  Francis  Walsingham      .         .         .         .         .         .         .123 

Parties  in  the  French  Court 124 

Suggestion  of  a  Marriage  between  Elizabeth  and  the  Duke 

of  Anjou 125 

Review  of  the  Situation  by  Cecil     .         .         .         .         .  127 
Cecil  favours  the  Anjou  Marriage        .         .         .         .         .129 

Elizabeth  opens  the  Question  with  the  French  Ambassador  130 

Debate  in  the  Council 132 

Report  of  La  Mothe  Fenelon  on  Elizabeth's  Private  Char- 
acter          134 

Conversation  between  Lord  Buckhurst  and  Catherine  de 

Medici 136 

Anxiety  of  Walsingham  for  the  Marriage  with  Anjou .         .  138 
Commission  in  London  for  the  Restoration  of  the  Queen  of 

Scots 140 

Objections  raised  by  Morton 142 

The  Commission  is  suspended  .         .         .         .         .         .  144 

Mary  Stuart  determines  to  throw  herself  upon  Spain  .        .  146 

Alva  seeks  a  Reconciliation  with  Elizabeth      .         .         .  147 

Indignation  of  the  Pope       .......  149 

The  Pope  and  the  Spanish  Ambassador  at  Rome     .         .  150 

The  Bishop  of  Ross  writes  to  the  Duchess  of  Feria      .         .  151 

The  Pope  urges  Philip  to  declare  against  Elizabeth          .  153 

Ridolfi 154 

The  Duke  of  Norfolk  and  the  Catholic  Conspiracy  .         .  156 
The  Catholic  Peers  determine  to  petition  Spain  for  Assist- 
ance            158 

Letter  of  the  Spanish  Ambassador  to  Philip    .         .        .  159 

Petition  of  the  Queen  of  Scots 161 

Petition  of  the  Duke  of  Norfolk 166 

Departure  of  Ridolfi 174 

Capture  of  Dumbarton  Castle 178 

Execution  of  the  Archbishop  of  St.  Andrew's      .        .        .  1 79 


VIU 


Contents. 


CHAPTER  XXL 


Unwillingness  of  Elizabeth  to  encounter  a  Parliament 
The  Succession  to  the  Crown  ..... 

Prospects  of  Mary  Stuart    .... 

Necessity  that  Parliament  must  meet 

Catholic  Conspiracy  to  seize  Elizabeth's  Person 

Defeated  through  the  Cowardice  of  the  Duke  of  Norfolk 

Beginnin";  of  the  Session 

Temper  of  the  Lower  House 

Collision  between  the  Queen  and  the  Commons 

Puritan  Legislation      .         ... 

The  Thirty-nine  Articles  .... 

Marriage  of  the  Clergy 

Bill  for  Attendance  at  the  Communion   . 

Bill  for  the  Protection  of  the  Queen    . 

Act  of  Attainder  against  the  Northern  Insurgents 

A  Subsidy  ....... 

The  Parliament  ends        ..... 

Ridolti  at  Brussels 

Letter  of  Alva  to  Philip  ..... 

Elizabeth  to  be  killed  or  captured 

Ridolfi  sends  Home  a  favourable  Report  . 

His  Messenger,  Charles  Baily,  is  taken  at  Dover 

Lord  Cobham  and  the  Bishop  of  Ross 

Cecil  and  liis  Listruments    .... 

Charles  Baily  in  the  Marshalsea 

Litercepted  Correspondence 

Baily  is  racked         ...... 

Confession  of  Baily      ..... 

Examination  of  the  Bishop  of  Ross 
Execution  of  Dr.  Story        .... 

Relations  between  England  and  France  . 
The  Anjou  Marriage  ..... 

Religious  Difficulties         ..... 

Insincerity  of  Elizabeth       .... 

Leicester  once  more  ..... 

The  Negotiation  drops  .... 

Advice  of  Cecil 

Count  Louis  at  Paris 


Contents. 


IX 


PAOK 

Proposed   League   between  France  and  England   against 

Spain 236 

Mutual  Distrust  at  the  two  Courts 237 

The  Privateers 239 

Slave  Market  at  Dover 240 

Mission  of  Sir  Henry  Cobham  to  Madrid          .         .         .  242 

The  Duke  of  Feria 243 

Cold  Reception  of  Cobham 247 

Ridolfi  arrives  at  the  Spanish  Court     .....  250 

Political  Assassination       .         .         .         .         .         .         .  251 

INIeeting  of  the  Spanish  Council 252 

The  Nuncio 253 

Resolution  to  procure  the  Murder  of  Elizabeth   .         .         .  255 

Chapin  Vitelli  offers  to  kill  her 256 

Orders  sent  to  Alva  to  prepare  to  invade  England       .         .  257 

Slowness  of  the  Spanish  Movements         ....  258 

Sir  John  Hawkins  pretends  to  be  a  Traitor          .         .         .  260 

He  offers  to  desert  to  Spain  with  Part  of  the  English  Fleet  261 

He  deceives  the  Queen  of  Scots 263 

He  deceives  Philip  and  learns  the  intended  Invasion    .         .  268 

Letter  of  Hawkins  to  Cecil 269 

Political  Treachery 271 

State  of  Scotland 274 

Catherine  de  Medici  refuses  Assistance  to  Mary  Stuart's 

Friends 275 

Maitland  works  upon  Elizabeth 276 

Sir  William  Drury  is  sent  to  Edinburgh      .         .         .         .278 

Irritation  of  the  Lords  against  England  .         .         .         .  279 
They  divide  into  three   Parties  —  French,    Spanish,  and 

English 280 

Tlie  Gathering  at  Stirling 281 

Attempted  Surprise  of  Stirling 283 

Death  of  Lennox,  and  Regency  of  the  Earl  of  Mar        .  285 

CHAPTER  XXn. 

Preparations  for  Insurrection  in  England     ....  289 

Suspicion  cast  upon  the  Duke  of  Norfolk          .         .         .  290 

Norfolk  recommitted  to  the  Tower 292 

His  Secretaries  are  tortured 293 


Contents. 


The  Ridolfi  Secret  is  discovered 

Arrest  of  the  Catholic  Leaders         .... 

The  Bishop  of  Ross  makes  a  full  Confession 

Alva  declines  to  move  further  .         .... 

The  French  Marriage  ...... 

The  Due  d'Alengon  is  proposed  instead  of  Anjou     . 
Dantjerous  Trillin<j       ....... 

Resolution  to  try  the  Duke  of  Norfolk  for  High  Treason 
The  Spanish  Ambassador  is  ordered  to  leave  England 
Conspiracy  of  Berney  and  Mather  .... 

Intended  Murder  of  Cecil    ...... 

Arrest  of  the  Conspirators        ..... 

The  Catholic  Refugees  once  more  address  Philip 
Philip,  under  Alva's  Influence,  will  not  help  them   . 
Preparations  for  Norfolk's  Trial   ...... 

Publication  of  Buchanan's  "  Detectio  "    . 

The  Duke  at  the  Bar  ........ 

He  is  found  Guilty  and  sentenced  to  die  .... 

UnwillinsTness  of  Elizabeth  to  consent  to  his  Execution 
Extreme  Danger  of  her  Position      ..... 

Mary  Stuart  attempts  to  work  upon  her       .         .         .         . 

Relaxation  of  Mary  Stuart's  Confinement 

Characteristic  Letter  to  Elizabeth       .         .         .         .         . 

The  Civil  War  in  Scotland      ...... 

Elizabeth  will  not  interfere  ....... 

Semper  Eadem         ........ 

Battle  of  Lepanto        ........ 

Conference  at  Edinburgh  Castle       ..... 

Proposals  for  a  Compromise  ...... 

The  Eai-1  of  Northumberland  is  given  up  to  England  by 
Douglas  of  Lochleven  ..... 

Explosion  of  Catholic  Fanaticism  in  Paris   . 

The  Alen^on  Marriage    ...... 

Elizabeth  uncertain  as  usual 

Treaty  between  England  and  France 

Meeting  of  Parliament         ...... 

Proposed  Bill  of  Attainder  against  Mary  Stuart 

The  Bishops  memorialize  the  Queen  for  her  Execution 

Deputation  from  the  two  Houses      .... 

The  Queen  refuses  to  consent 


PAGE 

296 
296 
299 
301 
303 
303 
305 
308 
309 
311 
312 
314 
317 
319 
320 
321 
323 
328 
332 
333 
335 
338 
339 
342 
343 
344 
345 
346 
347 

349 
352 
353 
355 
357 
359 
360 
361 
364 
366 


Contents. 


XI 


PAQB 

Execution  of  the  Duke  of  Norfolk 367 

Bill  to  cut  off  Mary  Stuart  from  the  Succession  .         .         .     368 
The  Alenc^on  Marriage     .         .         .         .         .         .         .         370 

The  Privateers  are  ordered  to  leave  the  Channel         .         .372 

Capture  of  Brille 375 

General  Insurrection  in  Holland  and  Ireland  .  .  .376 
Count  Louis  with  the  Huguenots  takes  Mons  .  .  .  376 
Huguenot  Ascendancy  at  the  French  Court  .  .  .378 
English  Volunteers  cross  to  Holland         .         .         .         .         379 

The  Alencon  Marriage 380 

Charles  requests  Elizabeth  to  join  him  in  a  War  against 

Spain  for  the  Liberation  of  the  Low  Countries  .  382 
Elizabeth  secretly  offers  to  betray  Flushing  to  Alva  .  .  383 
Panic  at  the  French  Court,  caused  by  Distrust  of  Elizabeth     384 

Letter  of  Cecil  to  Coligny 387 

The  Queen  of  Scots  at  Sheffield 388 

Execution  of  the  Earl  of  Northumberland       .         .         .         390 


CHAPTER   XXIU. 

Catholic  Reaction  in  Europe        ......  392 

Parallel  Growth  of  Calvinism 393 

Fanaticism  in  Paris      ........  394 

The  Relations  of  the  French  Court  towards  the  Husfuenots 

contingent  on  the  Conduct  of  Elizabeth         .         .  395 
Marriage  of  the  Princess  Margaret  with  the  King  of  Na- 
varre        .         .         .         .         .         .         .         .         .397 

Catherine  de  Medici  determines  to  abandon  the  Huguenots  398 

Attempt  to  kill  Coligny 399 

Catherine  works  upon  the  King's  Terrors    ....  401 

Conspiracy  to  murder  the  Huguenot  Leaders  •         .         .  403 

The  Massacre  of  St.  Bartholomew 405 

The  Causes  of  it 410 

Delight  in  Rome 411 

Effect  in  England    ........  414 

Danger  of  tlie  Queen  of  Scots 415 

Elizabeth  prepares  for  War 417 

La  Mothe  Fenelon  admitted  to  an  Audience        .         .        .419 

Attempted  Excuses  of  the  French  Court           .         .         •  422 
Alva  makes  fresh  Aj)proache8  to  England    .         .         .         .424 


xii  Contents. 

PASS 

Elizabeth  resolves  to  accept  his  Advances        .        .        .  428 

Rage  of  the  Catholic  Kefugees 429 

The  English  Volunteers  are  recalled  from  Zealand  .         .  430 

Distress^  Philip 433 

The  English  Catholics  pray  him  not  to  desert  them  .        .  434 

Alva  insists  that  their  Prayer  shall  be  refused      .         .         .  439 

Treaty  between  England  and  Spain         ....  440 

Knox  returns  to  Edinburgh 444 

Sermon  on  the  Massacre 444 

Negotiation  for  the  Surrender  of  the  Queen  of  Scots  to  the 

Earl  of  Mar 446 

Sudden  Death  of  Mar 448 

Cecil  and  Leicester  urge  Elizabeth  to  interfere  in  Scotland  449 

Sir  H.  Killegrew  at  Edinburgh 452 

Morton  elected  Regent 453 

Last  Illness  and  Death  of  Knox 454 

Character  of  Knox 457 

The  Civil  War  breaks  out  again 459 

Pacification  of  Perth 461 

Maitland  and  Grange  refuse  to  submit         ....  462 

Elizabeth  is  requested  to  assist  in  Reducing  Edinburgh  Castle  463 

After  long  Hesitation,  she  consents           ....  466 

Preparation  for  the  Siege    .......  468 

Bombardment  and  Storming  of  the  Castle        .         .         .  469 

Death  of  Maitland 473 

Execution  of  Grange,  and  Extinction  of  Mary  Stuart's  Party  476 

CHAPTER  XXIV. 

Interval  of  Quiet  in  Ireland  after  the  Death  of  Shan  O'Neil  479 
Sketch  of  the  Country  and  People  by  an  Emissary  of  Philip 

the  Second 481 

EflFect  of  the  Attempt  to  force  the  Reformation  upon  the 

Irish 483 

Tirlogh  Lenogh  Chief  of  the  O'Neils       ....  484 

The  Irish  Debt 486 

Plans  for  English  Colonies       .         .         .         .         .         .  487 

The  Earl  of  Desmond  a  Prisoner  in  London  .  •  •  489 
Proposal  to  partition  Munster  among  a  Party  of  English 

Gentlemen .        .  491 


Contents. 


xiu 


PAOR 

Intention  of  the  Colonists  to  exterminate  the  Native  Irish  .  493 

Quarrel  between  the  Butlers  and  Sir  Peter  Carew  .        .  495 

Leage  of  the  Irish  Chiefs 496 

The  Archbishop  of  Cashel  goes  to  Spain  to  offer  the  Irish 

Crown  to  Philip 497 

Murder  of  the  English  Settlers  in  Cork      ....  500 

Massacres  and  Counter-massacres     .....  502 

Edward  Tremayne  in  Ireland      ......  504 

Sir  H.  Sidney  overruns  the  South  and  West    .         .         .  505 

Quarrel  with  the  House  of  Ormond      .....  508 

Sir  Humfrey  Gilbert  in  Command  at  Kilmalloch      .         .  509 

Wholesale  Slaughter  of  the  Irish 511 

A  Week's  Service  in  Wicklow         .         .         .         .         .  512 

Enormous  Cost  of  Ireland  to  the  English  Crown         •        .  516 

Sir  Edward  ritton  President  of  Con  naught     .         .         .  517 

Fortunes  of  the  Archbishop  of  Cashel  in  Spain  .         .         .  521 

Ireland  a  Fief  of  tlie  See  of  Rome 523 

Complications  of  European  Politics 624 

Sir  Thomas  Stukely  at  Madrid 524 

History  of  Stukely 525 

Two  Parties  among  the  Irish  Catholics     ....  526 

Intended  Invasion  of  Ireland  by  the  Spaniards    .         .         .  532 

Sir  Henry  Sidnej'  resigns  his  Office          ....  533 

Sir  William  Fitzwilllam  Deputy  ......  533 

Universal  Disorder  and  Confusion    .....  536 

Report  of  Tremayne 537 

Sir  John  Perrot  President  of  Munster      ....  539 

The  Scots  invade  Limerick          ......  542 

They  are  cut  In  Pieces  by  Perrot  and  the  Butlers    .        .  543 

Results  of  Perrot's  Government 544 

Elizabeth  determines  to  conciliate  the  Irish  .  .  .  545 
Attempted  English  Settlement  at  Knockfergus    .         .         .547 

Effect  in  Ireland  of  the  Massacre  of  St.  Bartholomew     .  549 

Cattle-driving  in  the  Pale 550 

The  Earl  of  Desmond  is  allowed  to  return  to  Ireland      .  552 

He  is  again  imprisoned  in  Dublin         .....  552 

Advice  of  Tremayne        .......  553 

Walter  Devercux,  Earl  of  Essex,  undertakes  to  occupy 

Part  of  Ulster  at  his  own  Charge      ....  554 

Great  Prej)aration3 556 


xiv  Contents. 

PAOB 

Essex  lands  at  Carrickfergus 558 

Bright  Prospects  soon  overclouded  .....  559 

Failure  and  Ruin 660 

Desmond  escapes  from  Dublin          .....  561 

General  Prostration  of  the  English  Power  in  Ireland  .         .  562 


CHAPTER  XIX. 

The  impunity  with  which  Elizabeth's  Government 
was  able  to  insult  and  provoke  the  Catholic  Powers  of 
Europe  is  the  most  anomalous  phenomenon  in  modern 
history.  The  population  of  England  was  less  than 
half  the  population  either  of  France  or  Spain.  The 
nation  was  divided  against  itself,  and  three  quarters  of 
the  Peers  and  half  the  gentlemen  were  disaffected. 
Yet  the  intricacies  of  the  political  situation  protected 
the  Queen  not  only  against  active  resentment  from 
abroad,  but  fi'om  the  conspiracies  of  her  own  subjects. 
Eveiywhere,  indeed,  there  was  paradox  ;  everywhere 
contradiction  and  inconsistency.  In  the  struggle  for 
existence  men  snatch  at  the  first  weapon  that  comes  to 
hand,  and  cannot  look  too  nicely  at  the  armoury  where 
it  has  been  forged.  Catholics  and  Protestants  where 
they  were  a  suffering  minority  clamoured  alike  for  lib- 
erty of  conscience  ;  alike  where  they  were  in  power 
they  proscribed  every  creed  but  their  own.  The  obli- 
gations of  loyalty  varied  with  the  creed  of  the  sover- 
eign. The  English  Bishops  who  composed  the  Hom- 
ily on  Wilful  Rebellion,  fed  the  armies  of  the  Hugue- 
nots and  the  Prince  of  Orange  with  contributions 
collected  in  the  English  churches.  The  Catholics 
who  on  the  Continent  preached  the  Divine  right  of 
Kings,  believed  in  England  that  they  might  lawfully 
be  deposed  by  their  subjects.  Princes  were  not  more 
consistent  than  their  peoples.     Elizabeth  was   half  a 


2  History  of  Unc/land.  [Ch.  xix. 

Catholic  in  theory ;  in  practice  she  was  the  most  vigor- 
ous of  Protestants.  The  Court  of  France  was  one 
month  the  ally  of  the  Papacy,  and  the  irreconcilable 
enemy  of  heresy  ;  in  the  next  it  was  seeking  alliance 
with  England,  stretching  out  its  hands  to  the  Princes 
of  the  religion,  and  thinking  only  how  best  to  take  ad- 
vantage of  the  distractions  of  the  Low  Countries,  and 
annex'  Brabant  and  Flanders  to  the  French  crown. 
But  phenomena  like  these  occasion  no  surprise.  They 
explain  themselves  on  the  common  principles  of  human 
nature,  or  in  the  divisions  of  opinions  and  parties.  The 
anomalies  in  the  position  of  the  English  Queen  were 
so  singular  as  to  be  without  precedent  or  parallel. 

From  Philip,  the  most  orthodox  of  princes,  and  the 
Spanish  nation,  the  most  passionately  Catholic  in  the 
world,  some  kind  of  principle,  some  uniformity  of  ac- 
tion, mio-ht  have  been  looked  for  with  certainty  ;  yet 
Philip  was  compelled  to   be   the   chief  supporter  ot  a 
heretic  Power,  by  which  he  was  himself  insulted  and 
despised.     If  he  attempted  to  interfere  to  change  the 
government  in  England,  France  stepped  to  Elizabeth's 
side  and  threatened  him  with  war.     If  he  stood  aside 
to   let   the    Catholics   rebel,  the    Catholic   element  in 
France  was   ready  with  its  offers   of   help  to    secure 
the  profits  of  the  anticipated    revolution,  and  Philip, 
throuo-h  fear  for  his  Netherlands,  was  forced  back  upon 
his  sister-in-law's  side,  was  obliged  to  stand  between 
her  and  the  Pope,  and  to  perplex  the  whole  CathoHc 
world  by  an  irresolution  not  less  marked  and  far  more 
mischievous  than  the  vacillation  of  Elizabeth  herself. 
Ao-ain  and  again  he  had  tried  to  extricate  himself  from 
his  dilemma,  but  the  strange    eddy    was   always   too 
strong  for  him.     Had  there  been  no  France,  the  Eng- 
lish  Catholics   would  have   found   an   instant  ally  in 


Ch.  XIX.]  The  Reign  of  Elizabeth.  3 

Spain,  and  Mary  Stuart  would  have  found  a  champion. 
Had  IMary  Stuart  been  unconnected  with  France,  the 
difficuhy  would  have  been  greater  but  still  not  insur- 
mountable. And  again,  had  there  been  no  Spain,  the 
French  would  never  have  submitted  to  be  driven  out 
of  Scotland,  or  Avould  have  found  an  easy  means  to 
reveno;e  themselves  in  the  intestine  divisions  of  Eno-- 
laud.  But  as  with  the  calms  in  the  Northern  latitudes, 
which  are  caused  by  the  conflict  and  counterpoise  of 
opposed  atmospheric  currents,  the  mutual  jealousies  of 
the  two  Powers  left  Elizabeth  more  free  to  settle  her 
own  difficulties  than  if  the  "  ditch "  which  divided 
England  from  the  Continent  had  been  the  Atlantic  it- 
self She  had  the  advantage  of  the  neighbourhood 
without  its  evil,  for  her  disaffected  subjects,  instead  of 
trusting  to  their  own  energies,  built  their  hopes  on  as- 
sistance from  abroad  which  never  came.  She  had 
robbed  Philip  of  his  money,  imprisoned  his  ambassa- 
dor, destroyed  his  commerce,  assisted  his  subjects  in 
rebellion,  and  invaded  his  Indian  colonies ;  yet  to  keep 
her  on  the  throne  continued  the  same  necessity  to  him 
as  when  ten  years  before  he  had  rejected  the  entrea- 
ties of  De  Feria  and  De  Quadra  to  make  himself  mas- 
ter of  England  by  force. 

The  immunity  indeed  could  not  last  forever.  If 
the  Reformers  were  finally  crushed  on  the  Continent, 
the  turn  of  England  would  come  in  the  end  ;  and  had 
Elizabeth  understood  the  situation  as  completely  as  Ce- 
cil understood  it,  she  might  have  struck  boldly  into  the 
quarrel,  and  perhaps  turned  the  scale  conclusively  over 
all  Western  Europe.  But  for  such  a  policy  she  Avanted 
courage,  and  probably  she  wanted  inclination.  Slie 
dipped  into  the  whirlpool  and  drew  out  of  it,  she  hung 
on  the  edge  and  promised  and  broke  her  promises,  and 


4  History  of  Eiigland.  [Ch.  xix. 

sent  help  to  France  and  Flanders  and  denied  having 
sent  it,  and  did  all  those  things  which  in  common  times 
would  have  most  exposed  her  to  danger  with  least 
profit  to  herself.  Yet  here  too,  strangely,  her  star  was 
on  her  side.  This  very  conduct  answered  best  for  her 
own  purposes,  since  it  enabled  Philip  to  hope  to  the 
last  that  she  Avould  go  back  to  the  principles  of  the  old 
alliance  and  the  old  faith,  and  so  furnished  him  with  an 
excuse  to  himself  for  his  own  inaction.  Thus  time 
was  gained,  and  time  was  everything  for  the  consolida- 
tion of  English  freedom.  Catholicism  in  England  was 
still  to  appearance  large  and  imposing,  but  its  strength 
was  the  strength  of  age,  which,  when  it  is  bowed  or 
broken,  cannot  lift  itself  again.  Protestantism,  on  the 
other  hand,  was  exuberant  in  the  freshness  of  youth  ; 
if  a  branch  was  lopped  away  another  more  vigorous 
shot  from  the  stem ;  the  sap  was  in  its  veins ;  it  would 
bend  to  the  storm  and  gather  strength  from  the  blasts 
which  tossed  its  branches.  The  Catholic  rested  upon 
order  and  tradition,  stately  in  his  habits  of  thought, 
mechanical  and  regular  in  his  mode  of  action.  His 
party  depended  on  its  leaders,  and  the  leaders  looked 
for  guidance  to  the  Pope  and  the  European  Princes. 
The  Protestant  was  self-dependent,  confident,  careless 
of  life,  believing  in  the  future  not  the  past,  irrepressi- 
ble by  authority,  eager  to  grapple  with  his  adversary 
wherever  he  could  find  him,  and  rushing  into  piracy 
metaphorical  or  literal  when  regular  warfare  was  de- 
nied him.  Life  and  energy  were  on  the  side  of  the 
Queen,  and  every  year  that  she  could  gain  was  a  fresh 
security  for  her  ;  while  the  convenient  season  for  which 
Philip  waited,  though  it  arrived  at  last,  arrived  too 
late,  when  the  hand  which  should  execute  his  behests 
was  shaking  in  decrepitude. 


1570.]  TJie  Meign  of  Elizabeth.  6 

These  reflections,  however,  if  sound  at  all,  are  hut 
wisdom  after  the  event.  We  must  return  to  England 
in  the  opening  of  the  year  1570,  when  the  vitality  of 
Protestantism  was  still  unproved,  and  the  future  was 
vacancy  peopled  only  with  its  million  possibilities. 

The  rebellion,  ill  concerted  and  ill  managed,  had  ex- 
ploded without  effect,  but  it  had  left  the  Catholics 
weaker  than  before,  embittered  more  deeply  against 
Elizabeth's  government,  and  only  resolved  to  renew 
the  experiment  with  a  clearer  understanding  among 
themselves.  The  conspiracy,  as  the  Regent  Murray 
said,  had  its  branches  over  the  whole  island ;  and 
were  the  Queen  to  be  taken  off  by  an  assassin,  as 
Murray  had  been,  there  was  no  force  anywhere  which 
could  save  the  country  from  immediate  and  universal 
anarchy. 

Conscious  of  her  danger,  and  conscious,  as  she  re- 
covered her  equanimity,  that  she  must  find  some  better 
guarantee  for  her  safety  than  the  hanging  of  landless 
labourers  and  poor  artisans,  Elizabeth  drew 
up  an  address  to  her  subjects,  in  which  she 
explained  the  principles  of  her  past  government,  and 
appealed  to  their  consciences  to  say  whether  on  the 
wliole  she  had  deserved  their  disaffection.  The 
thoughts  were  her  own,  the  language  in  part  or  wholly 
was  Cecil's.!  ^  printed  copy  was  sent  to  every  parish 
in  England,  to  be  hung  up  in  some  public  place  Avhere 
every  one  could  see  it,  and  read  aloud  in  service  time 
from  the  pulpit. 

She  spoke  briefly  of  the  insurrection.  She  thanked 
her  people  for  their  general    loyalty  ;  but  "  for  their 

1  The  MS.  is  corrected  throughout  in  Cecil's  hand.  The  body  of  it  had 
bf'cn  proliably  written  at  his  dictation  by  a  secretar}'. — Domestic  MUS., 
15011,  1570,  ICotls  House. 


6  History  of  England.  [Ch.  xix. 

better  understanding,"  she  desired  to  add  some  few 
words  of  reply  to  the    calumnies  which  were  spread 
abroad  against  her  administration.    "  She  had  desired," 
she  said,  "  to  have  the  obedience  of  her  subjects  by 
love  and  not  by  compulsion,  by  their  own  yielding  and 
not  by  her  exacting:  she  had   never  sought  the  life, 
the  blood,  the  goods,  the  houses,  estates,  or  lands  of 
any  person  in  her  dominions  :  "  she  had  been  careful 
for  the  maintenance  of  order  and  law,  yet  with  so  little 
severity  that  "  the  Judges  had  in  no  age  before  given 
fewer   bloody  judgments  :  "    there  had   been    no  civil 
wars  in  England  like  those  which  were  desolating  the 
neighbouring  kingdoms  ;  no  needless  foreign  wars,  no 
impoverishing  of  the  subject  by  "  taxes,  assises,  gabels, 
or  other  exactions  :  "  she  had  incurred  expenses  in  the 
defence  of  the  country  against  intended  invasions  ;  yet 
she  had  been  more    careful  of  her  subjects'  treasure 
than  even  Parhament  itself  had  required  her  to  be  ; 
the  ordinary  revenues  of  the  crown  had  sufficed  for  the 
ordinary  government,  and  she  invited  them  generally 
to    contrast    "  the    security,    tranquillity,    and   wealth 
which  they  enjoyed,  with  the  continual  and  universal 
outrages,  bloodshed,  murders,  burnings,  spellings,  de- 
population of  towns  and  villages,  and  infinite  manner 
of  exactions,  in  France  and  the  Low  Countries." 

So  much  as  to  the  general  management  of  the  coun- 
try. There  remained  to  be  considered  religion,  on 
which  her  rule  "  specially  from  abroad  had  been  most 
frequently  and  maliciously  impugned."  It  was  true, 
Elizabeth  admitted,  that  "  the  external  ecclesiastical 
policy  of  England  differed  in  some  respects  from  that 
which  was  established  in  other  countries,  and  occasions 
had  been  sought  to  trouble  weak  consciences  on  this 
ground."    Simply,  however,  she  declared  that  "  she  had 


1570.]  The  Heign  of  Elizabeth.  7 

neitlier  claimed  nor  exerted  any  other  authority  in  the 
Cliurch  than  had  attached  from  immemorial  time  to 
the  English  crown,  although  that  authority  had  been 
recoo-nised  with  o-reater  or  less  distinctness  at  different 
times.  The  crown  challenged  no  superiority  to  define, 
decide,  or  determine  any  article  or  point  of  the  Chris- 
tian faith  or  religion  ;  or  to  change  any  rite  or  cere- 
mony before  received  and  observed  in  the  Catholic 
Church.  The  royal  supremacy  in  matters  spiritual 
meant  no  more  than  this,  that  she  being  by  lawful  suc- 
cession Queen  of  England,  all  persons  born  in  the 
realm  were  subjects  to  her  and  to  no  other  earthly 
ruler.  She  was  bound  in  duty  to  provide  that  her 
people  should  live  in  the  faith,  obedience,  and  observ- 
ance of  the  Christian  religion  ;  that  consequently  there 
should  be  a  Church  orderly  governed  and  established  ; 
and  that  the  ecclesiastical  ministers  should  be  sup- 
ported by  the  civil  power,  that  her  subjects  might  live 
in  the  fear  of  God  to  the  salvation  of  their  souls.  In 
this.  Christian  princes  differed  from  Pagan  princes, 
who,  when  they  did  best,  took  but  a  worldly  care  of 
their  subjects'  bodies  and  earthly  hves. 

"  And  yet,"  she  said,  "  to  answer  further  to  some 
mahcious  untruths,  she  never  had  any  meaning  or 
intent  that  any  of  her  subjects  should  be  troubled  or 
molested  by  examinations  or  inquisitions  in  any  matter 
of  their  faith,  as  long  as  they  should  not  gainsay  the 
authority  of  the  Holy  Scriptures,  or  deny  the  articles 
of  faith  contained  in  any  of  the  Creeds  received  and 
used  in  the  Church :  they  might  retain  their  own 
opinions  in  any  rites  or  ceremonies  appertaining  to 
religion,  as  long  as  they  should  in  their  outward  con- 
versations shew  themselves  quiet  and  conformable,  and 
not  manifestly  repugnant  to  the  laws  for  resorting  to 
their  ordinary  churches." 


8  History  of  England.  [Ch.  xix. 

"  So  far  and  no  farther  the  crown  of  England 
claimed  authority  over  the  Church  ;  and  if  any  poten- 
tate in  Christendom,  challenging  universal  and  sole  su- 
periority, should  condemn  the  English  Princess  for  re- 
fusing to  recognise  that  superiority,  Elizabeth  said  she 
would  be  ready,  in  any  free  and  general  assembly, 
where  such  potentate  should  not  be  only  judge  in  his 
own  cause,  to  make  such  an  answer  in  her  defence  as 
should  in  reason  satisfy  the  university  of  good  and 
faithful  Christians  ;  or,  if  she  failed  to  satisfy  them, 
as  the  humble  servant  and  handmaid  of  Christ,  she 
would  be  willing  to  conform  herself  and  her  policy  to 
that  which  truth  should  guide  her  into  for  the  advance- 
ment of  the  Christian  faith  and  concord  of  Christen- 
dom :  she  would  admit  as  trutli,  however,  only  that 
which  Almighty  God  should  please  to  reveal  by  ordi- 
nary means  in  peaceable  manner,  and  not  that  which 
should  be  obtruded  upon  her  by  threatenings  of  blood- 
shed and  motions  of  war  and  rebellion,  or  by  curses, 
fulminations,  or  other  worldly  tyrannous  violences  or 
cruel  practices. 

"  With  this  general  statement  her  subjects  ought  to 
be  contented.  She  had  done  nothing  which  could 
justly  offend  them,  and  she  intended  to  do  nothing. 
Inasmuch,  however,  as  some  kinds  of  her  people 
had  been  encouraged  in  disobedience  by  an  opinion 
evil  conceived  of  her  lenity,  she  must  and  would,  for 
the  future,  make  use  of  the  sword  of  justice  against 
the  obstinately  disaffected.  There  should  be  no  inqui- 
sition, no  examination,  no  violence  done  to  conscience 
in  matters  of  faith  ;  and  those  who  would  outwardly 
conform  should  enjoy  the  fi'uits  of  her  former  accus- 
tomed mildness  ;  but  sedition  and  rebellion  should  be 
speedily  and  promptly  repressed." 


1570.]  Tlie  Reign  of  Elizabeth.  9 

The  allusion  to  "  curses  and  fulminations  "  mio;lit 
seem  prophetic.  That  Elizabeth  had  not  been  formally 
excommunicated  had  been  one  of  the  difficulties  which 
had  embarrassed  the  Northern  insurgents.  An  Eng- 
lish gentleman  instinctively  recoiled  from  the  name  of 
traitor  :  and  so  long  as  he  was  unabsolved  from  his 
oath  of  alleo-iance,  the  most  earnest  Catholic  could  not 
feel  with  certainty  that  he  was  released  from  his  obliga- 
tion of  obedience.  The  Popes  would  long  before  have 
relieved  their  consciences  could  they  have  followed 
their  own  discretion  ;  but  the  Catholic  Princes,  and 
especially  Philip,  were  not  so  blinded  by  fanaticism  as 
to  sanction  so  audacious  a  precedent.  Charles  V.  had 
refused  to  recognise  the  excommunication  of  Henry 
VIII.  ;  he  had  received  English  ambassadors,  and  gone 
back  into  an  alliance  with  the  English,  as  if  Paul  III. 
had  been  but  a  mortal  like  himself.  Philip  had  been 
less  openly  disrespectful  to  Paul's  successors  ;  but  he 
had  escaped  only  by  preventing  them  from  forcing  him 
into  the  same  situation,  and  by  interposing  to  prevent 
their  often-meditated  violence.  Many  reasons  made 
him  unwilling  to  quarrel  with  Elizabeth.  Many  rea- 
sons made  him  reluctant,  even  if  an  opportunity  should 
present  itself,  to  permit  her  to  be  deposed  by  revolu- 
tion ;  and  as  a  sovereign,  he  declined  to  recognise 
even  by  silent  acquiescence  the  insolent  pretensions  of 
the  Roman  Pontiff. 

Confronted,  however,  by  the  avowed  embarrassment 
of  the  English  Catholics,  privately  instigated  by  the 
Cardinal  of  Lorraine,  and  perhaps  believing  that  by 
the  open  exercise  of  his  authority  he  might  put  an  end 
to  the  vacillation  of  the  Great  Powers,  and  unite 
France  and  Spain  upon  what,  by  the  voice  of  their 
Church,  would  be  consecrated  into  a  Crusade,  Pius  V. 


10  History  of  England.  [Ch.  xix. 

determined  to  wait  no  longer  for  Philip's  approbation. 
The  Earls  of  Westmoreland  and  Northumberland  had 
theinselves  written  to  desire  him  to  speak  out  in  their 
favour.  On  the  25th  of  February,  therefore,  suddenly, 
that  there  might  be  no  remonstrance,  he  drew  up  a 
Bull,  by  which  he  declared  Elizabeth  to  be  cut  off,  as 
the  minister  of  iniquity,  from  the  communion  of  the 
faithful.  He  released  her  subjects  from  their  allegiance, 
and  he  forbade  them,  under  pain  of  incurring  the  same 
sentence  as  herself,  to  recognise  her  any  longer  as  their 
sovereign. 1 

Deeply  though  Elizabeth  had  injured  the  Kmg  of 
Spain,  the  Pope  was  conscious  that  it  would  be  vain  for 
him  to  hope  that  the  Bull  could  be  published  in  Flan- 
ders.    Philip,  he  was  well   aware,  would   entreat    or 
command  him  to  restore  the  levin  bolt  to  his  spiritual 
armoury.     He  therefore  sent  it  to  the  Cardinal  of  Lor- 
raine, to  be  issued  at  a  favourable  moment ;  and,  igno- 
rant as  yet  of  the  completeness  of  the  collapse  of  the 
insurrection  in  England,  or  believing   that    the  work 
could  be  recommenced  from  the  Scottish  Border,  he 
wrote  at  the  same  time  a  letter  of  encouragement  and 
gratitude    to  the  two  Earls.     It  was    couched  in  the 
usual  language  of  the  Apostolic  missives.     The  Pope 
expressed  and  assured  them  of  the  peculiar  love  with 
which   he   regarded   his    English    flock.       "  He    was 
grieved,"   he  said,    "  that  during  his    Pontificate,   the 
venom  of  heresy  should  have  been  spread  so  widely 
over  the  Christian  Commonwealth.     He  had  prayed  to 
Peter,  however,  not  to  desert  his  forlorn  bark  on  the 
stormy  sea  on  which  it  was  tossed ;  and  Peter,  he  did 
not  doubt,  would  come  to  the  help  of  his  faithful  ser- 

1  Bull  of  excommunication  against  Elizabeth,  February  25,  1570:  MSS. 
Domestic,  Rolls  House.    Printed  by  Camden,  Burnet,  etc. 


1570.]  The  Reign  of  Elizabeth.  11 

vants.  ]\Iany  a  time  that  precious  boat  had  seemed  to 
be  on  the  verge  of  destruction  ;  yet,  by  the  power  of 
the  Lord,  the  raging  waves  had  been  stayed,  and  the 
ship  had  come  out  from  persecution,  strengthened  by 
the  violence  which  had  threatened  it  with  ruin.  It 
might  be  that  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  Avho  made  old 
things  new  and  new  things  old,  had  resolved  to  build 
again  the  Church  of  that  realm  by  the  hands  of  the 
two  noblemen  whom  he  was  addressing  —  men  illustri- 
ous alike  in  their  blood  and  in  their  zeal  for  the  faith, 
who  had  endeavoured  to  save  themselves  and  their 
country  from  the  foul  tyranny  of  female  sensuality.^ 
They  had  desired  to  submit  themselves  again  to  the 
Holy  Apostolic  See.  He  applauded  in  the  Lord  their 
pious  purpose  as  it  deserved.  Jle  gave  them  his  bless- 
ing. He  received  them  under  the  shelter  of  his  au- 
thority. He  exhorted  them  to  be  constant  and  to  per- 
severe. He  was  assured  that  the  Almighty  Lord, 
whose  works  were  all  perfect  and  who  had  moved  them 
to  the  defence  of  the  Catholic  faitli,  would  give  them 
the  aid  of  His  powerful  arm.  Should  they  lose  their 
lives  in  His  service,  it  was  better  for  them  to  pass  at 
once  into  Paradise  through  a  glorious  death,  than  to  be 
the  mean  slaves  of  a  licentious  woman,  and  lose  their 
immortal  souls.  The  Bishops  who  had  been  flung  into 
dungeons  rather  than  forsake  the  truth,  had  followed 
in  the  footsteps  of  the  blessed  Thomas  of  Canterbury. 
Let  the  Earls  also  imitate  that  admirable  saint.  They 
were  his  beloved  children  in  Christ,  and  he  prayed 
them,  for  no  perils  by  which  they  might  be  threatened, 
to  desert  the  cause  which  they  had  taken  in  hand. 
The  God  in  whom  they  trusted,  the  God  who  cast 
Pharaoh  and  his  chariots  into  the  sea,  was  able  to  de- 
1  "  De  la  subjeccion  de  la  torpe  y  feminil  incontinencia." 


12  History  of  England.  [Ch.  xix. 

stroy  the  might  of  their  adversaries.  The  Pope  him- 
self would  not  only  move  the  Princes  of  Christendom 
in  their  behalf,  but  would  send  them  at  once  all  the 
money  which  he  could  provide,  and  in  this  and  all 
other  ways  would  assist  them  in  their  holy  purpose  to 
the  utmost  of  his  power."  ^ 

The  letter  never  reached  its  destination,  but  fell  into 
the  hands  of  the  Spaniards.  The  Bull  was  carried  to 
Paris,  and  lay  waiting  for  the  moment  when  it  was 
hoped  that  a  war  would  break  out  between  France  and 
England,  and  that  Catherine  de  Medici  and  the  King 
would  p'ive  their  sanction  —  without  which  even  the 
Cardinal  of  Lorraine  was  afraid  to  act — to  the  publi- 
cation of  it  before  the  world.^ 

1  La  carta  que  su  Santidad  escribio  a  los  Condes  de  Northumberland  6 
Westmoreland,  February  20, 1570 :  MS.  Simancas. 

2  Philip,  who  was  generally  credited  with  having  advised  Elizabeth's  ex- 
communication, was  more  than  innocent  of  it.  He  was  surprised,  dis- 
pleased, and  suspicious,  believing  that  it  was  connected  in  some  way  with 
a  design  on  the  part  of  the  French  Government  to  make  an  attempt  upon 
England.     Don  Guerau  sent  him  a  copy  of  the  Bull. 

"  The  instrument  which  you  have  forwarded  to  me,"  Philip  wrote  in 
reply,  —  "  the  instrument  declaring  the  Queen  of  England  deprived  of  her 
realm,  was  the  first  which  I  had  heard  about  the  business.  His  Holiness 
took  the  step  without  communicating  with  me,  and  I  assure  you  I  am  not 
a  little  surprised  at  it.  Knowing  as  I  do  so  intimately  the  condition  of 
that  realm,  I  could  have  given  him  better  advice  than  others  whose  coun- 
sels he  seems  to  have  followed.  He  is  zealous,  and  perhaps  thinks  that 
only  this  was  wanting  to  bring  about  what  he  desires.  I  shall  be  very 
happy  to  find  that  he  is  right,  but  my  fear  is  that  not  only  the  effect  will 
not  be  favourable,  but  that  so  sudden  and  ill-advised  a  measure  will  only 
embitter  men's  humours  there  and  drive  the  Queen  to  extremities."  — 
Philip  to  Don  Guerau,  June  20 :  MS.  Ibid. 

To  his  ambassador  in  Paris,  Philip  expressed  himself  yet  more  vehe- 
mently. "  The  Pope,"  he  said,  "should  have  consulted  me  before  taking 
this  step.  I  cannot  but  feel  uneasy  that  it  was  concealed  from  me.  It 
means  mischief,  and  we  must  get  to  the  bottom  of  it.  We  must  find  out 
especially  what  the  French  are  after — their  usual  tricks  no  doubt.  If 
there  be  anything  of  this  kind,  we  may  credit  it  to  the  Cardinal  of  Lor- 
raine, whose  actions  show  that  you  have  done  him  no  injustice  in  the 
opinion  which  you  have  formed  of  his  character."  —  Philip  to  Don  Francis 
de  Alava,  June  26 :  Teulet,  Vol.  V. 


1570.]  TJie  Reign  of  Elizabeth.  13 

The  opportunity  might  easily  be  near  ;  the  attitude 
of  the  French  Court  towards  England  had  varied  dur- 
ing the  past  year  between  almost  a  declaration  of  hos- 
tilities and  almost  friendship.  So  long  as  Mary  Stuart 
and  the  Enghsh  Catholics  were  coquetting  with  Spain, 
the  French  Ambassador  had  held  aloof  fi'om  the  con- 
spiracy ;  when  it  became  clear  that  Spain  did  not  mean 
to  interfere,  the  place  of  protector  of  the  oppressed 
was  again  open  with  its  contingent  advantages.  France 
could  make  use  of  the  resentment  which  would  be 
provoked  naturally  by  the  apathy  of  Alva  and  Philip, 
and  the  death  of  JNIurray  had  created  a  fresh  chance 
for  the  recovery  of  French  influence  in  Scotland.  The 
Huguenots  were  not  expected  to  rally  from  the  effects 
of  Moncoutour.  The  Guise  influence  was  in  the  as- 
cendant, and  Catherine  leant  as  usual  to  the  policy  of 
the  predominant  party.  Accordingly,  during  the  first 
weeks  of  the  year,  the  despatches  of  Sir  Henry  Norris 
from  Paris  were  filled  with  warnings  of  approaching 
danger.  Elizabeth  was  to  be  punished  for  the  encour- 
agement which  she  and  her  subjects  had  given  to 
Coligny.  "  The  open  talk  at  Paris  was  of  war  wnth 
England,  for  the  release  of  the  Queen  of  Scots  and 
the  toleration  of  Papistry."  The  Queen  Mother  told 
Norris  "  that  she  thought  God  had  sent  the  beginnincj 
of  a  rebellion  to  warn  his  mistress  how  she  assisted 
rebels  against  their  princes  ;  if  the  first  lesson  sufficed 
not,  she  must  look  for  sharper  scourges."  An  army 
was  to  be  thrown  across  the  Straits,  which  the  Duke 
of  Anjou  was  to  lead,  and  the  Duke  was  to  be  re- 
warded with  the  hand  of  the  Queen  of  Scots.  The 
success  of  Bothwellhaugh  had  been  so  encouraging, 
that  the  Cardinal  of  Lorraine  engaged  a  party  of  as- 
sassins to  attempt  a  similar  service  on  Elizabeth.     He 


14  Hktory  of  Englmid.  [Ch.  xix 

offered  Alva  a  share  of  the  enterprise,  and  requested 
him  to  make  a  diversion  in  Scotland,  while  Anjou 
moved  on  London  and  Tutbury. 

That  Alva  would  accept  a  second  part  in  such  a 
business  was  exceedingly  unlikely.  The  marriage  of 
the  Queen  of  Scots  and  the  Duke  of  Anjou  was  one 
of  the  most  alarming  spectres  in  Philip's  imagination. 
Don  Guerau,  however,  suggested  that,  under  shelter 
of  the  expected  French  enterprise,  the  Duke  might 
attempt  the  surprise  .of  Tutbury  on  his  own  account ; 
it  was  of  great  importance  that  the  Queen  of  Scots 
should  be  at  liberty,  and  equally  so  that  she  should  not 
fall  into  the  hands  of  the  French.^  He  had  ascer- 
tained that  she  was  left  to  herself  between  two  o'clock 
at  night  and  nine  the  following  morning  ;  and  if  Alva 
would  send  a  ship  well  manned  to  some  secluded  spot 
on  the  east  coast,  with  a  sufficient  number  of  horses, 
means  could  be  found,  with  the  help  of  Leicester^ 
whose  service  it  seems  had  been  secured  by  Chapin,^ 
to  carry  her  off  to  the  sea.^  With  a  view  to  an  un- 
derplot of  this  kind,  and  to  throw  Catherine  off  her 

1  "  Parece  cosa  muy  conveniente  procurar  la  libertad  de  la  Rejma  de 
Escocia,  porque  con  tenerla  presa  tiene  creydo  la  Reyna  de  Inglaterra  que 
ningun  Principe  Catolico  le  hara  guerra  por  no  poner  en  peligro  la  dicha 
Princesa;  y  asy  tambien  es  major  que  su  libertad  no  sea  por  via  de  los 
FranQeses  ni  venga  a  poder  dellos,  por  lo  que  ban  mostrado  desear  de 
casarla  con  el  Duque  de  Anjou;  antes  seria  muy  al  proposito  que  viniese 
en  poder  de  su  Magd,  porque  se  casase  a  su  voluntad,  pues  para  el  bien  de 
la  religion  y  seguridad  de  los  Payses  Baxos  y  de  V.  M^^  y  la  navegacion 
importaria  mucho."  —  Don  Guerau  to  Alva,  March  7 :  MS.  Simancas. 

^  Don  Guerau,  speaking  of  some  one  who  was  to  be  sent  first  to  survey 
the  ground  where  the  relays  of  horses  were  to  be  placed,  says:  —  "  Puede 
traer  una  carta  del  Marquis  para  el  Conde  de  Leicester  para  procurar  la 
dicha  facultad.' '  Leicester  had  perhaps  deceived  Chapin,  in  order  to  learn 
his  secrets  and  betray  them ;  or,  as  usual,  he  maj-  have  been  making  his 
game  for  all  contingencies.  No  one  can  tell.  Only  wherever  we  come 
upon  his  name  in  these  underground  passages  it  is  always  connected  with 
infamy  or  treachery  of  some  kind 

3  Don  Guerau  to  Alva,  March  7. 


1570.]  The  Reign  of  Elizabeth.  15 

guard,  Alva  did  not  answer  with  entire  coldness  to  the 
Cardinal  of  Lorraine's  proposals.  Sir  Henry  Norris 
intimated   his   fears   that  there  was    danger    ,^    ^ 

y'  March. 

from  Flanders  as  well  as  from  France,  unless 
in  some  way  the  Queen  of  Scots  could  be  got  rid  of. 
"  I  pray  you  assure  yourself,"  he  wrote  to  Cecil  on  the 
9th  of  March,  "  that  except  they  fail  of  their  purpose, 
they  intend  the  ruin  of  her  Majesty ;  as  you  tender 
her  Majesty's  preservation,  let  the  Queen  of  Scots  be 
removed  out  of  the  country."  ^ 

Don  Guerau  had  been  scrupulously  secret  about  the 
intended  escape  ;  but  a  hint  of  the  plot  reached  Cecil 
from  Paris.  On  enquiry  at  Tutbury,  suspicious  "  prac- 
tices "  were  discovered  among  the  servants,  and  the 
guard  at  the  castle  was  instantly  doubled.  The  locks 
were  taken  from  the  Queen's  door,  that  her  rooms 
might  be  examined  at  any  hour  of  the  day  or  night, 
if  "  sudden  danger  should  chance  ;  "  and  a  significant 
intimation  was  given  to  her,  that  if  she  tried  to  fly  it 
might  be  dangerous.^  Elizabeth  herself,  too,  prepared 
for  the  worst.  Though  knowing  nothing  of  the  ex- 
communication, she  had  reason  enough  to  believe  that 
the  warnings  of  Sir  Henry  Norris  might  be  well 
founded.  There  was  a  general  impression  that  on  the 
events  of  the  year  that  was  opening  the  fate  of  the  Ref- 
ormation depended  —  and  with  the  Reformation,  her 
own  throne.  La  Mothe  Fdnelon  continued  to  demand 
the  release  or  the  restoration  of  Mary  Stuart,  and  it 
seemed  only  too  likely  that  a  declaration  of  war  would 
follow  unless  the  Government  gave  way.  The  treas- 
ury was  poorly  provided.     Elizabeth  shrunk  from  en- 

1  Norris  to  C(;cil,  January  2,  January  27,  March  1,  March  9,  March  15; 

Norris  to  Kiizat.rth,  February  .5,  March  9 :   MSS.  France,  Rolls  House. 

2  John  Batcmau  to  Cecil,  March,  1570:  MSi).  Quten  of  Scols. 


16  History  of  England.  [Ch.  xix. 

countering  a  Parliament  with  no  husband  at  lier  side, 
and  with  the  succession  still  unsettled  ;  and  without  a 
Parhament  she  could  neither  raise  a  subsidy  nor  con- 
fiscate the  estates  of  the  Northern  Earls,  w^ho  could 
now  be    only  reached  through  an  Act  of  Attainder. 
Sir  Thomas  Gresham,  however,  was  able   to   raise  a 
loan   in   the    City.     The   Spanish   treasure   was    un- 
touched, and  could  be  used  in  extremity.     Every  ser- 
viceable ship  was  sent  to  sea  ;   the  musters  were  called 
into  training  on  the  whole  south  and  west  of  England  ; 
the   arms   and   horses   looked  to;   and   officers  were 
chosen  who  were  known  as  haters  of  Popes  and  Pa- 
pistries.    Before    March,  La   Mothe   reported   that  a 
hundred  and  twenty  thousand  men  could  take  the  field 
in    different  parts  of  England  at  a  few  days'    notice, 
and  could  be  relied  upon  to  defend  the  country  from  a 
French   invasion.^      The   defeat   of    Leonard   Dacres 
came  opportunely  to  strengthen  the  impression  of  the 
Queen's  resources ;   and  thus  supported,  she  felt  her- 
self able  to  reply  with  dignity  to  the  French  demands. 
She  was  called  upon  to  restore  Mary  Stuart :  she  an- 
swered with  an  unexaggerated  sketch  of  Mary  Stuart's 
history.      "  She   went   over   the   old   ground   of   the 
usurped  title,  the  unratified  treaty,  the  marriage  wath 
Darnley,    and   the   unceasing   intrigues    in    England. 
She  came  next  to  the  murder,  ^  which  the  Queen  of 
Scots  was  accused  by  her  subjects  of  having  directly 
procured  ;  and   finally   to   her   flight   into    England  ; 
where,  as  her  murdered  husband  was  Elizabeth's  near- 
est kinsman,  an  examination  into  the  circumstances  of 
his  death  was  absolutely  unavoidable.     The  Queen  of 
Scots  had  consented  after  some  objections,  and  Eliza- 
beth had  promised  that  if  the  charge  against  her  proved 

1  Depeches  de  la  Mothe  Fenelon,  February,  1570. 


1570.]  The  Reign  of  Elizabeth.  17 

to  be  unfounded,  her  accusers  should  be  punished, 
and  she  herself  should  be  restored  to  her  estate.  The 
evidence,  however,  proved  so  unexpectedly  weighty, 
that  the  Queen  of  Scots  herself  put  an  end  to  the  en- 
quiry, and  refused  to  allow  it  to  be  prosecuted  further. 
Elizabeth  had  forborne  to  use  the  advantage  which 
was  thus  placed  in  her  hands.  She  had  stood  between 
the  Queen  of  Scots  and  the  infamy  with  which  she 
would  have  been  overwhelmed  had  the  proofs  of  her 
guilt  been  published,  and,  in  return,  the  Queen  of 
Scots  had  stirred  up  an  open  rebellion,  professedly  in 
the  interests  of  religion,  but  aimed  in  reality  against 
Elizabeth's  throne  and  life.  This  person  she  was  now 
called  upon  to  set  at  liberty,  or  restore  to  her  throne  ; 
and  to  do  so  would  be  an  act  of  dangerous  folly,  which 
no  indifferent  person  should  in  conscience  require. 
She  would  not,"  Elizabeth  said  distinctly,  —  "  she 
would  not  be  herself  the  author  to  hazard  her  own 
person,  her  state  and  honour,  the  quietness  of  her 
realm  and  people,  without  further  consideration  how  in 
doing  it  she  could  maintain  her  crown  and  public  peace 
among  her  subjects.  She  dared  to  appeal  to  the  judg- 
ment of  any  prince  or  potentate  in  the  world  that 
would  profess  indifference  in  judgment :  the  Queen  of 
Scots  herself,  and  her  most  affectioned  friends,  could 
not  think  her  to  deal  therein  unreasonablv."  ^ 

Could  the  French  Government  have  answered  that 
the  Queen  of  Scots  was  a  slandered  woman;,  that 
Elizabeth's  pretended  care  for  her  honour  was  but  a 
contrivance  to  give  countenance  to  accusations  which 
would  not  endure  investigation,  they  would  have  re- 
plied, tliat  her  injustice  was  aggravated  by  her  hypoc- 
risy; they  would  have  dared  her  to  produce  the  so- 

1  Instructions  to  Sir  II.  Norris:   Conway  MSS.,  1570,  Rolh  Home. 
vol..  X.  2 


18  History  of  England.  [Ch.  xix. 

called  evidence  before  the   eyes  of  Europe,  that  she 
might  herself  receive  the   infamy  from  which  she  af- 
fected to  be  shielding  Mary  Stuart.     Was  the  truth  as 
the  defenders  of  the  Queen  of  Scots  maintain,  such  a 
challenire  would  have  been  more  fatal  to  Elizabeth  than 
the  landing  on  her  shores  of  all  the  legions  of  Alva  and 
Anjou  ;  but  this  could  not  be  ;    Catherine  de  Medici 
had    perhaps    learnt  by  this  time    that  Alva's  legions 
would  not  be  at  her  service,  that  the  Catholics  were  for 
the  present  crushed,  and  that  as  against  France,  they 
would  stand  true  to  their  own  sovereio-n.     She  there- 
fore  confessed,  when  Sir  H.   Norris  read  the  letter  to 
her,  that  she  had    nothing    to    reply  to  it.     She  still 
hoped,  she    said,  that    the    Queen  of  Scots  might  be 
allowed  to  leave  England,  or  might  be  eventually  re- 
established in  her   own    country ;    but   both    she    and 
Charles  admitted  that  they  could  make  no  further  un- 
conditional requests  in  her  favour.^     If  the  Queen  of 
England  could  discover  any  terms  consistent  with  her 
own  safety  on  which  the  restoration  could  be  effected, 
they  said  that  they  would  themselves  become  securities 
that  those  terms  should  be  observed  ;  but  Charles  de- 
clared positively  that  he  did  not  mean  to  interfere,  and 
Catherine  afterwards  in  private  spoke  even  with  greater 
friendliness. 

"  The  unaccustomed  smooth  speech,"  the  change  of 
note  so  sudden  and  so  entire,  led  Norris  "  to  suspect 
false  dealing."  The  English  Government  was  not 
lulled  into  false  security,  but  continued  their  prepara- 
tions for  defence-  while  the  Protestant  congregations 
raised  subscriptions  to  support  the  Huguenots.  Large 
sums  of  'money  continued  to  be  sent  to  the  Admiral, 

1  Norris  to    Cecil,  March   15;  Norris  to   Elizabeth,  March  17:    MSS. 
France,  Bdlls  Souse. 


1570.]  The  Reign  of  Elizabeth.  19 

the  privateer  fleets  Avere  let  out  again,  and  the  EngUsh 
ports  were  reopened  to  the  Rochelle  crnisers.    Cohgny, 
who  had  been  wounded  at  Moncoutour,  was  once  more 
in  the  field  at  the  head  of  an  army,  and  whether  the 
Court  was  sincere  or   not  in    its  present  moderation, 
Elizabeth  was  able  to  feel  that  from  France,  while  its 
present  mood  lasted,  she  had  nothing  to  fear,  although 
that  mood  would  probably  continue  until  it  had  been 
seen  whether,  through  the  death  of  jNIurray,  the  French 
party    would    recover    their    ascendancy    in    Scotland. 
There  it  was  that  she  found  her  chief  ground  for  un- 
easiness, and  the  necessity,  or  what  appeared  to  her  a 
necessity,  for  an  evasive  and    shuffling  policy.       The 
natural,  and  at  first  sight  the  most  prudent,  course  for 
her  would  have  been  to  declare  for  the  young  King,  to 
acknowledge,  once  for  all,  that  the  Queen  of  Scots  had 
lost  her  crown  by  her  own  fault,  and  to  refuse  to  allow 
the  question  of  restoration  to  be  any  more  reopened. 
But    in    doing    this   she    must  have  been  prepared  — 
either,  as  she  had  proposed  in  the  autumn,  to  replace 
the   Queen  of  Scots  as  a  prisoner  into  the  hands  of  the 
Protestant  party  (and  in    their   present    state  of  dis- 
organisation   Mary  Stuart  would    either  be  murdered 
by  them  immediately  or  at  no  distant  time  would  be 
set  at  liberty),  or    else  to   keep  her   permanently  in 
England,  to  be  a  perpetual  occasion  of  hiternal  trouble. 
She  might  have  made  up  her  mind  to  this  last  alterna- 
tive, could  she  be  assured  that  the  House  of  Lorraine 
would  not  regain  their  ascendancy  at  Paris  ;  but  it  was 
unsafe  to  calculate  on  F'rench  policy  for  two  months 
together.     It  was  always  possible   that  the  fanatically 
Catholic  clement  in  France  might  obtain  the  complete 
control  of  the  government.     France  and  Spain  might 
then  be  brought  together  by  the  Pope,  and  the  Queen 


20  History  of  England.  [Ch.  xtx. 

of  Scots  would  be  a  pretext  for  a  joint  declaration  of 
war.  The  Scotch  nobles  who  were  on  the  Queen's 
side  would  become  permanently  hostile  to  England, 
and  throw  themselves  wholly  on  the  French  alliance. 
To  keep  Maitland,  Argyle,  and  the  Gordons  therefore 
in  dependence  upon  herself;  to  prevent  them  from 
joining  with  tlie  Hamiltons,  who  were  and  always 
M-ould  be  the  determined  enemies  of  England ;  ^  to 
discover  at  last  some  possible  compromise  by  which  she 
could  reconcile  impossibilities,  by  which  she  could  re- 
place Mary  Stuart  yet  leave  her  powerless  for  mischief, 
with  merely  the  outward  insignia  of  sovereignty  —  this 
was  the  solution  of  the  problem  which  commended 
itself  to  Elizabeth,  as  that  which,  on  the  whole,  prom- 
ised best  for  English  interests  and  for  her  own  safetv. 
It  was  because  she  had  been  baffled  on  this  very  point 
when  she  hoped  that  she  was  about  to  succeed,  that  she 
was  so  much  irritated  in  the  past  summer  with  the  Earl 
of  Murray  and  the  Convention  of  Perth.  Slie  had 
allowed  herself,  apparently  without  Cecil's  knowledge, 
to  correspond  in  secret  with  the  Earl  of  Argyle  and 
with  Maitland ;  to  encourage  them  both  in  upholding 

1  The  Hamiltons,  though  nominally  on  Mary  Stuart's  side,  were  as  usual 
working  rather  for  themselves  than  for  her,  and  were  looking  steadily  on 
the  possible  reversion  of  the  Scotch  crown.  Mary  Stuart  had  named 
Chatelherault  Regent  in  her  absence;  but  Chatelherault  and  his  family 
were  contemplating  the  contingency  of  a  fresh  enquiry  into  the  Darnley 
murder,  which  might  terminate  both  in  the  Queen  and  the  young  Prince 
being  set  aside,  and  in  their  own  establishment  upon  the  throne  supported 
by  France. 

"  In  case,"  Chatelherault  said  in  a  commission  which  he  sent  to  France 
and  Spain,  —  "  in  case  all  were  not  dissolved  which  proceeded  of  the  Earl  of 
Murray  and  his  complices,  and  thereby  the  Queen's  Grace  was  not  found 
worthy  (as  God  forbid)  to  brook  the  government,  the  Prince  will  not  succeed 
as  it  is  supposed,  since  the  right  of  the  Crown  comes  only  by  her  Majesty 
to  him,  and  therefore  will  appertain  to  the  said  Duke  and  his  successors." 
Commission  from  the  Duke  of  Chatelherault  to  the  Kings  of  France  and 
Spain,  Jime,  1570 :  MSS.  Scotland,  Rolls  House. 


1570.]  The  Reign  of  Elizabeth.  21 

Mary  Stuart's  cause,  as  she  had  done  before  when 
Mary  Stuart  was  at  Lochleven,  and  to  persuade  them 
to  trust  in  her  rather  than  in  France.  Her  secret  pur- 
poses must  remain  always  extremely  obscure.  It  is 
possible  that  she  was  deliberately  dishonest  ;  but, 
beyond  doubt,  she  led  the  Earl  of  Aro-yle  to  believe 
that  in  thwarting  Murray,  and  in  keeping  up  a  party 
in  opposition  to  him,  he  was  but  fulfilling  the  Queen 
of  England's  wishes.^ 

A  dread  of  war,  a  hatred  of  expense,  a  sympathy  for 
a  sister  sovereign,  a  dislike  of  rebellion  however  neces- 
sary or  defensible,  an  intellectual  pleasure  in  a  subtle 
and  intricate  policy  —  all  these  elements  worked  per- 
haps together  in  Elizabeth's  mind,  and  made  her  persist 
in  a  line  of  action  which  she  could  pursue  only  in  the 
teeth  of  her  own  promises.  The  effect  so  flir  had  been 
a  dangerous  conspiracy  at  home,  a  partial  insurrection, 
and  tlie  murder  at  last  of  the  best  friend  that  she  pos- 
sessed out  of  her  own  kingdom.  The  position  was  at 
present  complicated  by  the  presence  of  the  refugees  on 
the  Border,  for  whom  in  the  friends  of  Mary  Stuart 
she  had  provided  only  too  efficient  protectors,  while 
there  was  another  peril  which  she  might  have  foreseen 
but  w'hich  she  apparently  overlooked.  The  union  of 
parties  which  siie  was  trying  to  bring  about  in  the 
interests  of  England,  might  be  effected  with  equal  like- 

1  Argyle  himself  told  Randolph  "  that  in  all  things  he  had  done  in  defence 
of  the  (Jueen  liis  mistress,  since  the  time  of  her  imprisonment  in  Lochleven, 
he  did  it  Ijy  such  advice  as  the  (iiiecn  of  England  had  given  him,  wiiich 
had  caused  him  since  that  time  to  have  lost  the  fricndsiiip  of  others  that 
were  very  dear  to  him,  even  the  Lord  liegent's  self,  whose  deatii  he  minded 
to  see  revenged  so  far  as  justice  and  law  required."  "  I  see,"  continued 
Ramlolph,  "that  both  he  and  the  Lord  l{<iyd  take  great  heed  of  the 
(iucen's  Majesty's  words,  and  by  sucli  talk  allure  many  to  their  ])urpo-;<*H 
who  were  not  long  since  of  another  mind."  — Randolph  to  Cecil,  l-ehruary 
27,  l.'i70:  MSS.  Scotland. 


22  Mstory  of  England.  [Ch.  xtx. 

liliood  in  the  interests  of  France.  If  after  the  experi- 
ence of  the  rebellion  she  still  persisted  in  endeavouring 
to  thrust  the  Queen  of  Scots  back  upon  them,  the  Prot- 
estant noblemen  might  anticipate  her,  as  Maitland  en- 
deavoured to  persuade  them  to  do  at  York,  by  them- 
selves inviting  the  Queen  of  Scots'  return.  Scotland 
would  at  least  escape  the  civil  war  which  was  other- 
wise inevitable.  The  demand  of  a  united  people,  sup- 
ported as  they  would  be  by  the  French  Court,  Ehza- 
beth  would  be  unable  to  refuse.  And  she  would  then 
lose  the  chance  of  exactino-  conditions  for  her  own 
security. 

In  the  anarchy  which  followed  the  murder  of  Mur- 
ray, the  English  fugitives  were  undisturbed  upon  the 
Border.  Leonard  Dacres  joined  them  after  his  defeat, 
and  the  Earl  of  Westmoreland,  with  all  the  help  which 
the  Buccleuchs,  the  Homes,  the  Kers,  and  the  Max- 
wells could  give  him,  was  threatenino;  to  return  into 
England  and  rekindle  the  insurrection,  Scotland  was 
without  a  government  Avhich  could  either  restrain 
them  or  be  held  responsible  to  Elizabeth  ;  and  unless- 
Elizabeth  was  roused  at  last  to  a  more  definite  policy, 
it  was  not  unlikely  that  Chatelherault  might  be  ac- 
cepted as  Regent  by  all  parties,  and  the  young  Prince 
be  sent  across  to  Paris. 

To    prevent    this  at  least,  to  keep    the    Protestant 
leaders  together,  yet  still  without  power  to 

February.  "  i  .    i  n    , 

take  the  one  step  which  would  have  recov- 
ered their  confidence,  Randolph  at  the  beginning  of 
February  came  down  to  Edinburgh.  He  was  sent,  as 
he  bitterly  said  to  Cecil,  to  feed  an  angry  and  anxious 
party  "  with  bare  words."  On  the  instant  of  his  arri- 
val he  was  beset  with  questions  as  "  to  Avhat  was  to  be 
done  with  the  Queen  of  Scots."     He  found  those  from 


1570.]  The  Reign  of  Elizabeth.  23 

whom  he  most  expected  support,  possessed  with  a 
conviction  "  that  she  would  some  time  be  sent  home 
against  their  will ; "  and  he  was  forced  to  see  that 
"  until  they  could  be  assured  that  it  should  pass  her 
power  to  do  them  evil,  there  could  be  no  good  assur- 
ance of  their  hearts  towards  England."  ^ 

Had  Scotland  remained  as  he  had  known  it  ten 
years  before  —  a  country  without  a  people,  a  country 
of  noblemen  and  o-entlemen,  where  the  Commons  had 
no  existence  except  as  servants  or  retainers  or  depend- 
ants —  the  shot  which  killed  Murray  would  have  killed 
the  Reformation.  The  first  champions  of  the  cause, 
the  Lords  of  the  Congregation,  were  divided,  dis- 
tracted, bankrupt  in  fortune  and  principle,  and  with 
little  heart  to  continue  the  stru£;o;le  :  but  it  was  not  for 
nothing  that  John  Knox  had  for  ten  years  preached  in 
Edinburgh,  and  his  words  been  echoed  from  a  thou- 
sand pulpits.  The  murders,  the  adulteries,  the  Both- 
well  scandals,  and  other  monstrous  games  which  had 
been  played  before  heaven  there  since  the  I'eturn 
of  the  Queen  from  France,  had  been  like  whirlwinds 
fannino;  the  fire  of  the  new  teaching;.  Princes  and 
Lords  only  might  have  noble  blood,  but  every  Scot 
had  a  soul  to  be  saved,  a  conscience  to  be  outraged  by 
these  enormous  doings,  and  an  arm  to  strike  with  in 
revenge  for  them.  Elsewhere  the  plebeian  element  of 
nations  had  risen  to  power  through  the  arts  and  indus- 
tries which  make  men  rich  —  the  Commons  of  Scot- 
land were  sons  of  their  religion :  while  the  nobles 
were  splitting  into  factions,  chasing  their  small  ambi- 
tions, taking  securities  for  their  fortunes  or  entangling 
themselves  in  political  intrigues,  the  tradesmen,  the 
mechanics,  the  poor  tillers  of  the  soil,  had  s[jrnng  sud- 
1  Randolpli  to  Cecil,  February  7,  February  22:  MSS.  Scotland. 


24  History  of  England.  [Ch.  xix. 

denly  into  consciousness  with  spiritual  convictions  for 
which  tliey  were  prepared  to  Hve  and  die.  The  fear 
of  God  in  them  left  no  room  for  the  fear  of  any  other 
thing,  and  in  the  very  fierce  intolerance  which  Knox 
had  poured  into  their  veins  they  had  become  a  force  in 
the  state.  The  poor  clay  which  a  generation  earlier 
the  haughty  baron  would  have  trodden  into  slime,  had 
been  heated  red-hot  in  the  furnace  of  a  new  faith  ; 
and  Randolph,  though  at  first  he  could  ill  realise  the 
change,  found  himself  in  an  altered  world.  With 
Murray  was  gone  all  that  was  conciliatory,  all  that  was 
gentle,  all  that  was  chivalrous  in  Scottish  Protestant- 
ism. It  was  shaped  by  Knox  into  a  creed  for  the  peo- 
ple —  a  creed  in  which  the  ten  commandments  were 
more  important  than  the  sciences,  and  the  Bible  than 
all  the  literature  of  the  world ;  narrow,  fierce,  defiant, 
but  hard  as  steel,  and  with  strength  enough  to  prevent 
Elizabeth's  diplomacies  from  ruining  both  herself  and 
Scotland. 

The  first  public  act  of  Randolph  Avas  to  take  part  in 
a  mournful  solemnity.  The  body  of  the  Regent  Mur- 
ray was  brought  from  Linlithgow  to  Leith,  and  thence 
on  the  14th  of  February  to  its  resting  place  in  St. 
Giles'  church.  The  country  for  the  moment  forgot  its 
feuds  to  pay  honour  to  the  noblest  of  Scotland's  sons. 
Lords  and  gentlemen,  knights  and  citizens,  all  who 
were  able,  came  together  to  take  part  in  the  sad  pro- 
cession. The  standard  was  borne  by  Grange.  Five 
earls  and  three  barons^  carried  the  coffin,  and  behind 
was  a  train  of  mourners  "  in  such  sorrow  "  as  Ran- 
dolph "  never  saw."  Three  thousand  people  were  in 
the  church,  and  the  funeral  sermon  was  pi-eached  by 

1  Morton,  Mar,  Glencairn,  Cassilis,  Euthven,  Lindsay,   Ochiltree,   and 
Glamis. 


1570.]  The  Reign  of  Elizabeth.  25 

Knox.  His  text  was  "  Blessed  are  the  dead  which  die 
in  tiie  Lord."  His  words  have  not  been  preserved, 
but  in  all  that  iron  crowd  there  was  not  a  man  but  was 
in  tears. ^ 


1  Something  of  what  Knox  said  may  be  conjectured  from  a  praj-er  with 
which  he  closed  a  second  sermon  in  the  same  place  on  the  following  day. 
"  Oh  Lord,  what  we  shall  add  to  the  former  petition  we  know  not :  yea 
alas,  oh  Lord,  our  own  consciences  bear  us  record  that  we  are  unworthy 
that  Thou  should'st  either  increase  or  yet  continue  Thy  graces  with  us  by 
reason  of  our  horrible  ingratitude.  In  our  extreme  miseries  we  called,  and 
Thou,  in  the  multitude  of  Th}- mercies,  heard  us;  and  first  Thou  deli vered'st 
us  from  the  idolatry  of  merciless  strangers ;  and  last  from  the  yoke  of  that 
wretched  woman,  the  mother  of  all  mischief;  and  in  her  place  Thou  didst 
erect  her  son ;  and  to  supply  his  infancy  Thou  didst  appoint  a  Kegent  en- 
dued with  such  graces  as  the  Devil  himself  cannot  accuse  or  justly  convict 
him;  this  only  excepted,  that  foolish  pity  did  so  far  prevail  in  him  concern- 
ing execution  and  punishment  which  Thou  commanded'st  to  have  beea 
executed  upon  her  and  upon  her  complices,  the  murderers  of  her  husband. 
Oh  Lord,  in  what  misery  and  confusion  found  he  this  realm !  and  to  what 
rest  and  quietness  now  by  his  labours  suddenly  he  brought  the  same,  all 
estates,  but  specially  the  poor  Commons,  can  witness.  Thy  image.  Lord, 
did  so  clearly  shine  in  that  personage  that  the  Devil  and  the  wicked  to 
whom  he  is  prince  could  not  abide  it;  and  so  to  punish  our  sins  and  ingrati- 
tude, who  did  not  righth-  esteem  so  precious  a  gift.  Thou  hast  permitted 
him  to  fall,  to  our  great  grief,  in  the  hands  of  cruel  and  traitorous  murderers. 
He  is  at  rest,  oh  Lord,  and  we  are  left  in  extreme  misery.  Be  mt>rciful  to 
us,  and  suffer  not  Satan  utterly  to  prevail  against  Thy  little  flock  within 
this  realm.  Neither  yet,  oh  Lord,  let  bloodthirsty  men  come  to  tiie  end  of 
their  wicked  enterprises.  Preserve,  oh  Lord,  our  young  King:  although  he 
be  an  infant  give  unto  him  the  spirit  of  sanctification,  with  increase  of  the 
same  as  he  groweth  in  years.  Let  his  reign,  oh  Lord,  be  such  as  Thou 
maj''st  be  glorified  and  Thy  little  flock  comforted  by  it,  .seeing  that  we  are 
now  left  as  a  flock  without  a  pastor  in  civil  policy,  and  as  a  ship  without  a 
rudder  in  the  midst  of  the  storm.  Let  Thy  pnnidence  watch.  Lord,  and 
defend  us  in  these  dangerous  days,  that  the  wicked  of  the  world  may  see 
that  as  w<-ll  without  the  help  of  man  as  with  it  Thou  art  able  to  rule,  main- 
tain, and  defend  the  little  fiock  that  dependeth  upon  Thee-  And  because, 
oh  I^ord,  the  shedding  of  iimoccnt  blood  has  ever  been  and  yet  is  odious  in 
Thy  presence,  yea,  that  it  delileth  the  whole  land  when  it  is  shed  and  not 
punished,  we  crave  of  Thee,  for  Christ  Thy  Son"s  sake,  that  Thou  wilt  so 
trj'  and  punish  the  two  treasonable  and  cruel  murders  lately  committed, 
that  the  inventors,  devisers,  authors, and  niaintaiiu-rs  of  treasonabli'  cruelty 
may  be  either  thoroughly  convicted  or  confounde<l.  Oh  Lord,  if  Thy 
mercy  prevent  not,  we  cannot  escape  just  condemnation,  for  that  Scotland 
hath  spared  and  luigland  hath  maintained  the  life  of  that  most  wicked 


26  History  of  England.  [Ch.  xix. 

His  words,  whatever  they  were,  augured  ill  for  com- 
promise. To  him  and  to  the  Scotch  Commons  Mary- 
Stuart  was  simply  a  wicked  woman,  whose  rights, 
could  they  have  been  accurately  ascertained,  were  a 
short  shrift  and  six  feet  of  rope.  The  nobles  had 
tough  consciences  and  had  estates  to  lose,  and  as  Eliza- 
beth had  prevented  them  from  hanging  the  Queen,  her 
restoration  did  not  seem  impossible  to  them.  The 
Commons,  however,  would  as  soon  be  subject  to  Satan. 
Few  or  none  of  the  Lords  cared  in  their  hearts  to  see 
Mary  Stuart  again  among  them  ;  and  as  there  was  a 
sincere  desire  to  save  the  country  from  bloodshed,  they 
were  willing,  in  the  first  emotion  which  followed  Mur- 
ray's death,  to  come  to  any  settlement  which  Elizabeth 
would  allow  to  endure.  Smaller  jealousies  and  smaller 
aims  were  laid  aside.  Maitland,  after  the  funeral, 
came  down  from  the  castle,  and  was  acquitted  by  ac- 
clamation of  all  charges  against  him,  and  a  private 
meeting  was  held  at  Dalkeith,  at  which  Argyle  was 
present,  to  determine  whether  another  Regent  should 
be  chosen  in  INIurray's  place.  Randolph  was  sent  for 
and  required  to  say  what  Ehzabeth  wished.  He  was 
unable  to  answer.  Was  the  Queen  to  return  ?  He 
could  not  tell.  Would  Elizabeth  recognise  James  ? 
He  was  forbidden  to  make  a  positive  statement.  The 
Lords  were  in  no  humour  to  be  trifled  with.  Mait- 
land repeated  his  conviction  that  the  Queen  would  be 

woman.  Oppose  Thy  power,  oh  Lord,  to  the  pride  of  that  cruel  murderess 
of  her  own  husband ;  confound  her  faction  and  their  subtle  enterprises  of 
what  estate  and  condition  soever  they  be;  and  let  them  and  the  world 
know  that  Thou  art  a  God  that  can  deprehend  the  wise  in  their  own  wis- 
dom, and  the  proud  in  the  imagination  of  their  wicked  hearts  to  their  ever- 
lasting confusion.  Lord,  retain  us  tliat  call  upon  Thee  in  Thy  true  fear. 
Let  us  grow  in  the  same.  Give  Thou  strength  to  us  to  fight  our  battle, 
yea,  Lord,  to  fight  it  lawful!}-,  and  to  end  our  lives  in  the  sanctification  of 
Thy  holy  name."  —  Worlcs  of  John  Knox,  Vol.  VI.  pp.  569,  570. 


1570.]  Tlie  Reign  of  Elizabeth.  27 

restored.  Argyle  had  received  letters  from  her  which 
pointed  to  the  same  conclusion.  The  meeting  broke 
up  without  a   resolution,  but    Morton,  who 

I  T   •      1   1        1  March. 

had  succeeded  Murray  as  the  political  leader 
of  the  Protestants,  wrote  to  Elizabeth  to  say  that  un- 
less she  could  resolve  one  way  or  the  other,  all  Scot- 
land would  cry  "  France,"  and  the  influence  of  Eng- 
land would  be  irrevocably  lost.^ 

Compelled  in  this  way  to  commit  herself  more 
deeply  than  she  had  intended,  Elizabeth  relaxed  some- 
thing; of  her  excessive  caution.  She  herself,  or  Cecil 
for  her,  ^  directed  Randolph  to  tell  Morton  and  his 
friends  "  that  she  remained  resolute  in  all  tilings 
which  concerned  the  maintenance  of  the  true  Chris- 
tian Religion  among  them,  the  preservation  of  their 
King  "  —  she  had  never  used  the  word  before  —  "  and 
consequently  of  their  own  particular  states  and  de- 
grees." "  She  desired  them  not  to  be  perplexed  with 
reports  of  devices  for  the  Queen's  restoration  ;  "  "  she 
would  consent  to  nothino-  till  she  micrht  first  understand 
their  intentions  for  themselves."  It  had  been  inti- 
mated to  her  that  if  a  new  Regency  was  to  be  ap- 
pointed in  the  King's  name,  the  only  possible  rival  to 
Chatelherault  would  be  his  old  antagonist  the  Earl 
of  Lennox.  He  was  a  Catholic,  but  as  the  King's 
grandfather  and  the  prosecutor  of  Bothwell,  his  good- 
will could  be  depended  upon  ;  and  she  said  that  if  it 
was  absolutely  necessary  to  choose  some  one,  she 
would  not  refuse  her  sanction.-^ 

1  Di'/x'chts  (h  In  Mothe,  Fmelon,  IMari'h  1-3. 

2  Elizabeth  to  liandolph,  February  27:  MSS.  Scotland.  The  draft  of 
the  letter  is  in  Cecil's  hand  throuj^hout. 

'  Lennox  was  in  London,  bofff^iiif^  hard  to  be  allowed  to  retura  to  Scot- 
land in  any  capacity.  He  expected,  and  Lady  Lennox  expected,  lliat  tiie 
Prince  woidd  l)e  murdered,  and  they  were  both  anxious  that,  it'  possible,  he 
should  be  brouf,'lit  to  Kngland.  —  Lady  Lennox  to  Cecil,  February,  1570: 
CotUm  MSS.,  Culi'j.  C.  1. 


28  History  of  England.  [Ch.  xrx. 

At  the  same  time,  as  an  indication  of  further  inten- 
tions which  slie  did  not  care  to  explain,  she  said  that 
the  state  of  the  Border  was  intolerable  and  at  all  haz- 
ards must  be  immediately  looked  to.  She  would  not 
allow  her  own  rebellious  subjects  to  use  the  shelter  of 
Scottish  territory  to  make  war  upon  England ;  and 
unless  the  Scotch  Council  "  saw  the  matter  redressed," 
"  she  would  reform  it  herself  in  such  sharp  manner  as 
the  offenders  should  repent  themselves,  and  be  unable 
to  commit  the  like  ao;ain." 

Elizabeth  had  created  the  party  by  whom  West- 
moreland and  Dacres  were  now  supported.  Sir  Rob- 
ert Constable's  treacheries  had  come  to  nothing,  and 
she  had  a  plausible  excuse  to  undo  some  part  at  least 
of  her  own  work.  If  she  sent  troops  across  the  Bor- 
der to  break  up  the  nest  of  marauders  at  Fernihurst, 
she  would  virtually  break  the  power  which  the  Prot- 
estant noblemen  had  most  occasion  to  fear.  She 
dared  not  interfere  avowedly  in  their  favour  for  fear 
of  a  rupture  with  France.  She  intended  to  confine  her 
actions  behind  the  plea  of  her  own  defence.  She  Avas 
entitled  to  deal  with  the  existing  nominal  government 
in  Scotland  for  purposes  of  ordinary  justice.  She  in- 
structed Randolph  therefore  to  require  the  Council  to 
maintain  the  peace  of  the  Border  and  the  existino- 
treaties  with  England,  and  to  offer  them  the  assistance 
of  her  own  forces  if  their  own  means  were  insufficient. 
She  told  him  to  point  out  to  Morton  that,  "  whereas  he 
had  asked  for  help  from  England  against  the  faction  in 
arms  against  the  King,  she  was  content  to  give  him 
what  he  wanted.  The  form  would  be  different,  but 
the  result  would  be  the  same  ;  the  persons  of  whom 
she  complained  being  notorious  enemies  of  the  youno- 
King,  and  of  the  nobility  adhering  to    him.     Morton 


1570.]  The  Reign  of  Elizabeth.  29 

■would  perhaps  enquire  wliether  she  intended  to  take 
full  part  with  them  and  declare  herself  a  party  to  the 
maintenance  of  the  King  in  his  present  state.     In  that 
case  Randolph  might  tell  him  that  if  he  would  consider, 
the  effect  of  his  desire  must  needs  follow.     It  might 
not  be  expressed  in  words  that  the  army  came  to  main- 
tain the  King,  yet  it  would  suppress  those  who  were 
the    King's    adversaries.     There    were    considerations 
which  made    it    undesirable  for    the    Queen  of  Eng- 
land to  take  upon  herself,  in  words,  the    office    of  a 
judge,  and  pronounce  by  a  formal  act  on  the  lawful- 
ness of  the   Queen  of  Scots'    dethronement.     It  was 
enough  for  her  that  Scotland  had  appointed  by  Parlia- 
ment a  de  facto  government  for  itself     England  would 
not  intermeddle  so  far  as  to  say  that  Scotland  was  right 
or  wrong  in  what  it   had  done,  but  so  far  Randolph 
might  promise,  that  if  the  noblemen  who  had  hitherto 
been  favourable  to  the  English  alliance  would  assist  in 
executins  the  law  ao;ainst  the  rebels  and  their  main- 
tainers,  the    Queen    of   England  would    identify    her 
cause  with  theirs    against   any  who    on    that   ground 
should  seek  to  oppose  them."  ^ 

As  usual,  when  action  became  imperative,  when  it 
was  absolutely  necessary  to  do  something  or  to  lose 
the  game,  Cecil  carried  his  point.  The  substance  of 
these  directions  had  been  drawn  up  in  a  private  con- 
ference on  the  16th  of  March,  by  him  and  Bacon,  and 
although  the  Queen  was  as  far  as  ever  from  the  only 
course  Avhich  could  give  peace  to  Scotland  or  security 
to  herself,  enough  would  be  done  to  enable  the  King's 
friends  to  hold  their  o-round.  The  soldiers  who  had 
been  so  hastily  dismissed  after  the  supi)ression  of  the 
rebellion  were  again  collected,  of  course  at  an  m- 
1  Instructions  to  Randolph,  Jlarch  18 :  MSS.  Scotland. 


30  History  of  England.  [Ch.  xix. 

creased  expense.  Four  thousand  men  were  to  assem- 
ble at  Berwick  by  the  second  week  in  April,  and 
Sussex  was  ordered  up  from  York  to  take  the  com- 
mand. He  was  directed  to  put  himself  in  communica- 
tion with  Morton  and  Mar,  and  having  obtained  their 
consent  in  the  Kind's  name,  he  was  to  cross  the  Bor- 
der,  seize  Westmoreland,  Leonard  Dacres,  and  the  Nor- 
tons,  or  force  them  to  leave  Scotland,  and  was  to  inflict 
condign  punishment  on  the  Border  chiefs  who  had 
assisted  them  in  their  inroads  into  Northumberland.^ 

It  was  not,  however,  without  efforts  almost  desperate 
that  Elizabeth's  consent  had  been  obtained  to  these 
measures  ;  nor  till  the  troops  were  actually  over  the 
Border  could  Cecil  feel  assured  that  the  order  would 
not  be  revoked.  The  Encrlish  Court  below  the  sur- 
face  was  seething  with  intrio-ue,  and  the  base  influence 
of  the  Queen's  favourites  was  at  w^ork  perpetually  to 
undo  or  neutralize  the  counsels  of  her  statesmen. 

On  the  breaking  up  of  the  conference  at  Dalkeith, 
Mary  Stuart's  friends  had  been  as  busy  as  the  King's. 
The  temper  of  Scotland  was  in  many  ways  unfavoura- 
ble to  the  English  alliance.  The  demand  for  the  ex- 
tradition  of  the  refugees  had  touched  the  pride  of  the 
country ;  and  in  the  general  ill-humour,  to  invite  or 
sanction  an  English  invasion  would  be  construed  into 
national  treason.  So  long  as  Elizabeth  withheld  tlie 
recognition  of  James,  she  deprived  Morton  of  the  soli- 
tary pretence  with  which  he  could  accept  the  assistance 
of  the  detested  Saxons,  and  she  took  from  him  and  his 
party  the  only  ground  on  Avhich  they  could  confidently 
rely  upon  her  promises.  They  knew,  and  all  Scotland 
knew,  that  Elizabeth  was  not  Cecil.  They  knew  that 
she  had  a  perpetual  secret  leaning  to  a  weak  and  yield- 

1  Instructions  to  Sussex,  ilarch,  1570 :  MSS.  Bwder. 


1570.]  The  Reign  of  EUzaheth.  31 

ing  policy,  and  they  had  seen,  in  her  treatment  of 
Murrav,  witli  what  indifference  she  could  flino;  over  her 
most  faitiiful  adherents,  if  it  became  convenient  to  dis- 
own and  desert  them.  Randolph  was  obliged  to  re- 
port that  "  the  remedy  offered  by  his  mistress  was  so 
little  accounted  as  though  she  was  not  worthy  to  be  es- 
teemed  a  friend  ;  "  and  meanwhile  Argyle  and  Mait- 
land,  pretending  still,  and  not  without  reason,  that 
they  and  not  the  Protestants  were  those  whom  she 
really  favoured,  were  flying  about  the  country  with 
Westmoreland  and  Dacres  in  their  company,  holding 
meetings  in  Mary  Stuart's  interest.  Although  Charles 
IX.  had  told  Norris  that  he  did  not  mean  to  inter- 
fei-e,  he  told  the  Scots  that  he  would  abstain  only 
while  Elizabeth  abstained.  M.  de  Virac  came  to 
Dumbarton  with  money  and  promises,  "  scattering 
doubt,  division,  and  uncertainty."  The  refugees  pro- 
fessed to  represent  the  English  aristocracy  and  the 
political  sentiment  of  England,  and  a  paper  of  condi- 
tions was  circulated  calling  itself  the  opinion  of  the 
Peers,  on  the  measures  to  be  taken  for  a  general  set- 
tlement of  the  whole  island.  A  complete  amnesty  was 
to  be  proclaimed  for  the  late  rebellion  ;  the  Queen  of 
Scots  was  to  be  restored  and  accepted  as  Elizabeth's 
successor  ;  while  the  religious  differences  were  to  be 
composed  by  universal  toleration,  to  which  the  Pope 
and  the  Cathohc  Powers  might  be  expected  to  con- 
sent.^ 

Such  terms  could  not  have  been  enforced,  even  m 
Scotland,  till  many  a  homestead  had  been  made  deso- 
late. Darnley's  ghost  still  wandered  unrevenged. 
The  murder  at  Linlithgow  was  fresh,  and  these  were 

1  Qufstions  to  I)e  proposed  if  the  Pope's  Holiness  and  the  forcifjn  Princes 
will  thereto  agree,  April  3 :  MSti.  Borihr. 


o2  History  of  England.  [Ch.  xix. 

not  wounds  to  be  skinned  over  with  pleasant  remedies. 
A  black  banner  was  hung  out  in  Edinburgh,  on  which 
again,  as  at  Carberry,  there  was  wrought  the  figure 
of  the  Kino;  under  the  tree,  the  infant  James  with 
clasped  hands  lifted  up  to  heaven,  and  beside  them 
"  the  Reoent  in  his  bed  as  he  died  with  his  wound 
open."  ^  But  the  politicians  could  not  understand  the 
times.  Amongf  men  who  had  lands  to  forfeit  or  to 
gain,  who  had  Court  favour  to  aspire  to,  or  schemes  to 
gratify  for  national  greatness  or  glory,  the  cry  of  the 
hour  was  for  a  "  composition  ;  "  and  foremost  among 
the  advocates  of  the  Queen's  restoration  was  Maitland 
of  Lidino-ton.  There  had  been  a  moment  after  Mur- 
ray's  death  when  a  word  from  Elizabeth  would  have 
recalled  Maitland  to  her  side  and  Cecil's  ;  but  that 
word  had  not  been  spoken.  He  was  deep  in  the  Eng- 
lish conspiracy  ;  deep  with  Norfolk,  Lumley,  Arundel, 
Southampton,  with  all  the  leaders  of  the  Catholic  reac- 
tion. He  had  set  his  heart  on  the  recall  of  Mary 
Stuart.  He  believed  that  he  could  unite  Scotland  in 
her  favour,  and  backed  as  she  already  was  in  England, 
that  he  could  extort  at  last  the  fulfilment  of  his  old 
proud  passionate  hope  —  the  establishment  of  a  Scot- 
tish sovereijin  on  the  throne  of  the  Edwards.  Had 
Elizabeth  acknowledged  James  as  her  successor,  he 
and  all  Scotland  with  him  would  have  been  entirely 
satisfied ;  but  Elizabeth  had  refused  to  hear  of  it,  and 
as  she  would  not  accept  the  son,  she  should  be  com- 
pelled to  endure  the  mother.  If  Pope,  Priest,  and 
Mass  Book  came  back  in  the  process.  Pope,  Priest, 
and  Mass  Book  would  not  be  a  price  too  dear.  How 
had  Maitland  become  so  changed  —  Maitland,  who 
had  once  worked  side  by  side  with  Knox,  and  had 
1  Randolph  to  Cecil,  March  1 :  MSS.  Scotland. 


1570.]  The  Reign  of  EUzaheth.  33 

been  Murray's  nearest  adviser,  —  Maitland,  the  pupil 
and  admirer  of  Cecil,  the  chief  political  instrument  of 
the  first  revolution    which    had   brought  the  English 
to  Leith  ?     It  was  a  question  which  his  old  English 
fiiends  could  not  too  often  ask  him,  and  which  he  him- 
self never  adequately  answered.     He  had  married  one 
of  the  "  Queen's  Maries,''  Lord  Fleming's  daughter, 
to   whom   he  was  passionately  attached,  and  through 
whom    he    had   been  brought  in    connexion  with  the 
great  Cathohc  families.     But  a  wife's  influence,  how- 
ever tender,  would  not  have  weakened  the  brain  of 
such  a  man  as  Maitland  ;  and  the  explanation  must  be 
looked  for  in  the  constitution  of  his  character.    Through 
all  his  changes  he  was  always  pursuing  one  object  — 
the  union  of  the  crowns  under  a  Scottish  sovereio-n : 
whether  that  sovereign  was  Arran,  Mary,  James,  or 
again  Mary,  mattered  little.     After  the  Bothwell  mar- 
riage he  had  believed  Mary  to  be  ruined.     He  had  ex- 
pected that  Elizabeth,  for  her  own  safety's  sake,  would 
have  acknowledged  the  little  Prince.     When  he  found 
himself  mistaken,  when  he  found  the  English  Queen 
weak,  hesitating,  uncertain,  and  the  English  nobility 
ready,  on  the  other  hand,  to  overlook  Mary's  misde- 
meanours   and   accept   her,    notwithstanding,    as  heir 
presumptive,    he    believed    evidently   that   Elizabeth's 
star  was  setting,  that  in  her  vacillation,  she  was  going 
the  road  to  certain  perdition.     The  exceptional  confi- 
dence with  which  Elizabeth  treated  him    led  him    to 
suppose  that  he  saw  deeper  into  her  tortuous  ways  than 
other  men.     He  assured  iiimself  that,  sooner  or  later, 
she  would  yield  to  pressure  and  let  Mary  Stuart  go. 
In   yielding   he   knew  that  she  would  be  destroyed  ; 
and  he  set  his  hand,  therefore,  to  assist  his  mistress 

VOL.  X.  3 


34  History  of  England.  [Ch.  xix. 

towards  the  passionately  coveted  object  of  his  and  her 
ambition. 

And,  perhaps,  another  influence  was  not  without  its 
effect  upon  him.  He  was  too  thorough  a  man  of  the 
world  to  view  with  anything  but  dislike  the  assump- 
tions of  the  rising  Kirk.  "  To  the  philosopher,"  says 
Gibbon,  "  all  religions  are  equally  false  ;  "  "  to  the 
statesman  all  are  equally  usefiil."  But  the  statesman 
makes  it  a  condition  of  his  patronage  that  the  clergy 
shall  confine  themselves  to  their  own  province  as  moral 
and  spiritual  teachers.  If  they  become  aggressive  ;  if 
they  meddle  with  government,  pretending  to  be  inter- 
preters of  the  will  of  God ;  above  all,  if  they  have 
power  to  make  themselves  practically  troublesome,  the 
complaisance  of  the  statesman  is  rapidly  converted  into 
enmity. 

Nothing  but  accident  could  at  any  time  have  brought 
together  men  so  essentially  different  as  Knox  and 
Maitland.  They  represented  the  very  opposite  poles 
of  Scottish  character.  "  The  will  of  God  "  was  to 
Knox  the  supreme  and  solitary  guide.  To  Maitland 
it  seemed,  from  words  which  he  let  fall  in  his  confiden- 
tial hours,  that  God  was  "  ane  Bogill  of  the  nursery." 
Each  crossed  the  other's  path  at  a  thousand  turns. 
■When  he  could  knead  the  other  ministers  like  clay, 
Maitland  had  ever  found  Knox  inflexible.  He  could 
not  deceive  him,  for  Knox  with  mere  earthly  eyes 
could  see  as  far  or  farther  than  Maitland,  and  Mait- 
land who,  if  heaven  was  empty,  acknowledged  the 
divinity  of  intellect,  came  soon  to  detest  what  he  could 
not  afford  to  despise.  These,  or  something  like  them, 
were  the  keys  to  the  conduct  of  this  remarkable  man. 
His  health  was  gone,  his  body  was  half  paralysed,  but 
his  wit  remained  as  keen  as  ever  ;  and  from  this  time  till 


1570.]  The  Beign  of  Elizabeth.  36 

his  death  he  became  the  chief  adviser  of  the  Scottish 
Queen  in  her  Enghsh  prison,  and  the  mainstay  of  her 
party  throughout  the  island.  ^  Randolph,  hardly  able 
as  yet  to  realise  the  change  which  had  passed  over 
him,  addressed  him  on  the  old  terms,  appealed  to  his 
friendship,  and  reminded  him  of  the  especial  reliance 
vrhich  Elizabeth  placed  in  him.  Maitland  was  aware 
that  she  trusted  him,  and  intended  to  make  use  of  her 
weakness.  While  Morton  was  addressing  her  throuoh 
Randolph  and  Cecil,  Maitland  approached  her  through 
Leicester.  "  He  wished,"  he  said,  "  to  explain  to  her 
distinctly  the  condition  of  Scottish  parties.  There 
were  two  parties  there  —  the  King's  and  the  Queen's  : 
the  first  was  composed  of  a  certain  number  of  the  No- 
bility and  the  Commons  whom,  as  he  understood,  the 
Queen  of  England  was  advised  to  support;  the  other 
consisted  of  the  heads  of  all  the  greatest  families  in  the 
country,  confident  in  the  goodness  of  their  cause,  and 
assured  that  all  Kings  allowed  their  quarrel  and  would 
aid  them  accordingly.  A  second  division  had  been 
created  by  the  death  of  the  Regent,  grounded  upon 
the  reffimen  of  the  realm.  The  nobles  who  had  de- 
posed  the  Queen  claimed  to  govern  in  virtue  of  the 
commission  which  was  extorted  from  her  at  Loch- 
leven  ;  but  even  among  those  who  had  been  hitherto  for 
the  King  there  were  many  who  thought  it  neither  fit 
nor  tolerable  that  three  or  four  of  the  meanest  sort 
among  the  Earls  should  presume  to  challenge  to  them- 

1  Randolph's  account  of  him  at  this  period  is  interesting.  "  I  doubt 
nothing  of  him  now,"  he  wrote,  "so  much  as  the  length  of  his  life.  He 
hath  only  his  heart  whole  and  his  stomach  good;  with  an  honest  mind 
much  more  given  to  policy  than  to  Mr.  Knox's  preaching.  His  legs  are 
clean  gone.  His  body  so  weak  that  it  sustaineth  not  itself  His  inward 
parts  so  feeble  that  to  endure  to  neese  he  cannot  for  annoying  the  whole 
body.  To  this  the  blessed  joy  of  a  young  wife  hath  brought  him."  — 
Randolph  to  Cecil,  March  1. 


36  History  of  England.  [Ch.  xix. 

selves  the  rule  of  the  whole  realm  ;  or  that  the  first  in 
rank,  the  next  of  blood,  the  greatest  for  degree  and 
ancientry,  should  be  passed  over,  the  meaner  to  com- 
mand, the  greater  as  private  men  to  obey.  This  was 
against  all  reason  and  all  precedent ;  and  the  Queen's 
party  was  thus  increased  with  part  of  the  King's. 
Public  feeling  was  decisively  declaring  itself  on  her 
side,  and  yet  her  friends  now  understood  that  English 
troops  were  coming  into  Scotland  to  suppress  them. 
They  would  of  course,  in  that  case,  apply  for  help  to 
France.  De  Virac  was  waiting  at  that  moment  for 
their  resolution,  and  there  could  be  no  doubt  what  that 
resolution  would  be.  The  slightest  of  the  evils  which 
would  follow  would  be  a  heavy  expense  to  England  ; 
and  he  wished  to  lay  before  her  Majesty  a  few  simple 
facts.  She  desired  to  retain  Scotland  at  her  devotion  ; 
it  was  an  honourable  object  and  not  to  be  disallowed. 
But  the  road  to  that  devotion  did  not  lie  through  the 
support  of  a  faction.  The  Scots  were  not  so  faint- 
hearted, but  they  had  courage  to  provide  for  their 
safety.  Force  would  accomplish  nothing,  while,  by 
way  of  treaty,  Elizabeth  might  bring  all  parties  to  ac- 
cord, pacify  the  country,  and  deserve  and  win  the  grat- 
itude of  the  whole  country.  They  would  then  think  no 
more  of  France,  and  the  fire  of  the  civil  war  which  was 
on  the  point  of  bursting  out  would  be  extinguished."  ^ 
Leicester  before  this  letter  arrived  had  been  at  work 
on  another  part  of  the  same  policy,  endeavouring  to 
persuade  the  Queen  to  liberate  Norfolk  and  restore  to 
the  Privy  Council  the  party  opposed  to  Cecil,  who  had 
fallen  into  disgrace  in  the  autumn.  Anticipating,  like 
Maitland,  Elizabeth's  fall,  he  was  preparing  for  the 
evil  day  by  scheming  with  La  Mothe  F^nelon  to  do 

1  Maitland  to  Leicester,  March  29 :  MSS.  Scotland. 


1570.]  The  Reign  of  Elizabeth.  37 

some  service  to  her  expected  successor.  In  all  his 
projects  Cecil  was  his  perpetual  obstacle,  and  to  injure 
Cecil  in  the  estimation  of  his  sovereign  was  his  constant 
but  unsuccessful  effort.  To  raise  a  feelino;  against  him 
among  the  people,  a  story  was  circulated  by  himself 
or  by  one  of  his  agents  that  Cecil  and  Bacon  had  pro- 
posed to  murder  Norfolk  in  the  Tower,  and  would 
have  done  it  but  for  his  own  interference. ^  He  com- 
plained to  the  French  Ambassador  that  Cecil  was 
watching  for  an  opportunity  to  drive  him  from  the 
Council  as  he  had  driven  Arundel  and  Lumley,^  and 
that  he  held  the  Queen  enchanted  with  jealous  fears 
of  the  Queen  of  Scots.  Unable  to  shake  Cecil's 
credit,  Leicester  had  been  more  successful  in  induc- 
ing the  Queen  to  recall  Lord  Arundel.  Times  were 
changed  since  Fitzalan  had  been  Leicester's  rival  for 
Elizabeth's  hand,  since  he  had  called  Amy  Robsart's 
shadow  out  of  the  tomb  to  wave  Leicester  back  from 
his  presumption.  Fitzalan's  hopes  had  long  been 
buried,  and  his  passion  and  his  ambition  had  been 
turned  upon  political  and  spiritual  intrigue.  His  name 
appeared  conspicuously  in  the  depositions  of  the  pris- 
oners examined  after  the  Northern  rebellion,^  but  he 
had  been  too  prudent  to  commit  himself  to  open  trea- 
son. He  was  able  to  represent  his  share  of  the  con- 
spiracy as  part  of  an  honest  policy  conceived  in  Eliza- 
beth's interests,  and  Elizabeth  dared  not  openly  break 
with   the  still    powerful    party  among   the    nobles   to 

1  Chester  to  Cecil,  March  3;  Examination  of  Robert  Spence,  March  7: 
MSS.  Domestic,  Rolls  House. 

2  "  Sans  ce  que  Cecil  le  guettoit  pour  le  desarfonner,  ainsi  qu'il  avoit 
desar<;onn6  les  autres  principaulx  du  Conseil." — Bepeckes  de  la  Moihe 
Fenelon,  March  27. 

8  Confession  of  Christofer  Norton  and  Captain  Styrley,  April,  1570: 
Domestic  MUS. 


S8  History  of  England.  [Ch.  xix. 

which  Arundel  belonged,  who  professed  to  desire  noth- 
ing more  than  the  restoration  of  the  Queen  of  Scots, 
her  recognition  as  heir  presumptive,  the  removal  of 
Cecil  from  office,  and  a  return  to  a  better  understand- 
ino;  with  the  Catholic  Powers.  With  Arundel  was 
recalled  also  his  son-in-law  Lord  Lumley,  and  they 
both  of  them  lost  not  an  hour  in  renewing  their  trea- 
sonable communication  with  Don  Guerau  and  La 
Mothe  F^nelon.  They  spoke  in  the  same  language 
which  they  had  used  before  the  rebellion.  They 
meant  to  overthrow  Cecil  and  Bacon,  release  the  Duke 
of  Norfolk,  marry  him  to  the  Queen  of  Scots,  and  re- 
store the  Catholic  religion.^  The  Duke  of  Norfolk  was 
to  be  liberated  as  soon  as  possible  and  sent  down  to  the 
Eastern  Counties  among  his  own  people  ;  and,  mean- 
while, Cecil  should  not  be  allowed  to  trouble  Scotland. 
The  fugitive  Earls  should  remain  there  till  France  or 
Spain  or  both  would  send  them  assistance ;  they  would 
then  come  back  over  the  Borders,  and  England  would 
rise  to  receive  them.^ 

These  were  the  men  whom  Leicester  had  broutrht 
back  to  Elizabeth's  side,  and  their  first  effort  was  to 
impress  upon  her  the  necessity  of  taking  the  advice  of 
Maitland,  and  of  abandoning  the  hope  of  extricating 
herself  by  force  from  the  combinations  which  were 
threatening  her.     France  and  Spain,  they  told  her,  did 

1  If  they  could  not  move  the  Queen  by  fair  means,  they  said  "  qu'ils  en 
essayeront  quelque  autre  plus  violent;  car  desirant^ comment  que  soit,  pour- 
voir  aulx  desordres  de  ce  Royaulme,  et  au  faict  de  la  Royne  d'Escosse,  et 
aulx  affaires  du  Due  de  Norfolk,  et  encores  plus  expressement  s'ilz  peuvent 
quant  ils  en  auront  le  moyen  au  restablissement  de  la  religion  Catholique, 
pour  lesquelles  quatre  choses  ils  veulent  tout  hazarder."  —  March  27,  De- 
peches  de  la  Mothe  Fenelon. 

Don  Guerau  wrote  to  Philip  on  the  same  day  exactly  to  the  same 
purpose. 

2  Ibid. 


1570.]  Tlie  Reign  of  Elizabeth.  39 

not  mean  to  endure  any  longer  the  insolence  of  the 
pirates  and  the  English  sympathisers  with  the  Protes- 
tant insurgents.  She  must  set  her  house  in  order, 
make  up  her  differences  with  the  Queen  of  Scots,  and 
pardon  the  Northern  Earls,  or  she  was  lost.^ 

Elizabeth  listened  with  outward  acquiescence.  If 
she  acted  with  Cecil,  she  talked,  except  at 
great  and  trymg  moments,  m  the  language 
of  his  opponents.  She  apologised  to  Arundel  for  her 
severity  towards  him.  She  spoke  of  releasing  Norfolk. 
She  said  she  would  think  again  before  Sussex  should 
cross  the  Borders.  "  The  Queen,"  wrote  La  Mothe, 
"  agrees  at  heart  with  the  nobles,  she  is  well  disposed 
towards  the  Catholics,  and  many  times  has  refused  to 
listen  to  the  sinister  advice  of  their  enemies  ;  if  she 
could  she  would  live  at  peace  with  all  parties  in  her 
realm."  ^ 

But  the  Catholics  would  not  leave  her  alone  or  give 
time  to  her  yielding  humour  to  settle  into  purpose. 
They  forced  La  Mothe,  against  his  better  judgment,  to 
threaten  her  with  war.  The  Cardinal  of  Lorraine's 
assassination  plot  was  whispered  abroad  to  frighten 
her.  She  was  herself  to  die  as  well  as  Cecil.  The 
Queen  of  Scots  was  supposed  to  be  at  w^ork  on  the 
same  project.  The  Queen  of  Scots  had  found  one 
bravo  to  kill  Mui'ray.  It  was  reported  that  she  was 
looking  for  another  to  kill  Elizabeth ;  "  she  was  as 
willino;  to  have  the  end  of  the  one  as  she  was  of  tlie 
other."  ^     Elizabeth    might   have    despised   mere    ru- 

1  Depeches  de  la  Mothe  Fenelon,  March  27. 

2  "  Ceste  princesse  n'a  le  coeur  ny  I'intention,  esloignde  de  celle  de  sa 
noblesse,  ny  n'est  mal  affectionnee  a  ses  subjectz  Catholiques,  pour  lus(|uc'lz 
elle  resiste  assez  souvent  aulx  conseilz  que  leurs  adversaires  luy  doniient 
centre  eulx,  aflin  que  avee  les  ungs  et  les  aultres  elle  puisse  passer  son 
regne  on  paix."  —  iJepeches,  April  18. 

"  KandolpL  to  Cecil,  April  H :  MSB.  Scotland. 


40  History  of  England.  [Ch.  xix. 

mours,  but  the  outward  acts  of  the  Queen's  party  in 
Scotland  were  provoking  and  defiant.  While  she  was 
pausing  over  the  orders  to  Sussex,  a  great  convention 
was  held  at  Linlithgow  :  Chatelherault  presided ;  Ar- 
gyle,  Huntly,  Sutherland,  Athol,  the  heads  of  the 
great  families  of  whom  Maitland  wrote,  were  all  as- 
sembled ;  and  with  singular  imprudence  Lord  Fleming 
introduced  among  them  the  English  refugees.  North- 
umberland was  in  confinement  at  Lochleven,  but  of 
the  rest  not  one  was  absent.  Dacres  and  Westmore- 
land "  sat  in  Council  "  as  representing  the  wishes  of 
England ;  De  Virac  was  present  for  France ;  and  Sir 
John  Gordon  was  sent  to  Ehzabeth,  in  the  name  of 
them  all,  to  request  her  to  give  them  back  their  Queen, 
and  to  protest  against  the  violation  of  Scotch  territory 
by  an  English  army. 

Elizabeth  was  touched  to  the  quick.  She  could 
have  borne  the  remonstrances  of  the  Scots.  It  might 
be  necessary  to  restore  Mary  Stuart  —  it  seemed  that 
she  was  slowly  making  up  her  mind  to  it,^  —  but  the 
Lords  at  Linlithgow  were  not  to  suppose  that  they 
might  maintain  her  revolted  subjects  in  arms,  assist 
them  in  open  invasion,  and  parade  their  insolence  be- 
fore the  world. 

The  four  thousand  men  were  by  this  time  collected 
at  Berwick.  Sussex  had  gone  up  to  take  the  com- 
mand, and  had  written  to  Morton  to  learn  what  part 
he  intended  to  take.  It  would  have  been  death  to 
Morton,  in  the  existing  excitement,  had  he  seemed  to 
sanction  an  English  inroad,  unless  it  was  undertaken 
avowedly  to  maintain  the  King.     The  irritation  was  so 

1  La  Mothe  writes,  "  qu'elle  est  bien  disposee  envers  sa  personne  et  sa 
vie,  comme  je  crois  qu'elle  ny  a  heu  jamais  mauvaise  intention,  et  que 
mesme  elle  goutte  aulcunement  sa  restitution  et  ne  la  rejecte  tant  qu'elle 
souloit."  —  Depeches,  April  18. 


1570.]  The  Reign  of  Elizabeth.  41 

violent  at  Edinburgh  that  Randolph  had  been  oblio-ed 
to  leave  the  town  and  join  Sussex,  and  Morton  could 
only  say  that  till  Elizabeth  was  pleased  to  declare  her 
purposes  with  less  obscurity  he  could  do  nothing.^  She 
had  been  on  the  point  of  revoking  Sussex's  commis- 
sion, but  in  her  anger  at  the  convention  it  had  been 
allowed  to  stand,  and  Sussex,  sending  to  Morton  to 
say  that  in  what  he  was  about  to  do  he  intended 
merely  to  chastise  such  of  the  Borderers  as  had  made 
incursions  into  England,  prepared  to  execute  the 
Queen's  original  commands.  "  Before  the  light  of  the 
coming  moon  was  passed "  he  proposed  to  leave  a 
memory  in  Scotland,  whereby  they  and  their  children 
should  be  afraid  to  offer  war  to  Eno-land.^ 

A  messenger  fi'om  the  Lords  came  to  say  that  "  if 
he  entered  in  hostile  manner  they  would  not  allow  it ; 
his  mistress  might  not  take  upon  herself  to  order  the 
realm  of  Scotland."  They  had  written  again  to  Eliza- 
beth, and  they  required  him  to  hold  his  hand  till  an 
answer  could  be  returned.^  Sussex,,  anxious  to  re- 
cover his  credit  for  energy,  declined  to  wait  till  his 
misti'ess  had  changed  her  mind.  He  replied  that  "  he 
neither  dared  nor  would  forbear  to  use  her  Majesty's 
forces  against  her  rebels  wheresoever  they  might  be, 
or  against  those  who  had  broken  the  peace,  burned 
and  killed  her  Majesty's  subjects,  and  taken  and  de- 
stroyed their  goods.  His  proceedings  should  be  rather 
an  execution  of  justice  worthy  to  be  allowed  of  all 
Scottishmen  than  a  troubling  of  the  amity  ;  and  if  any 
of  their  Lordships  took  arms  in  defence  of  their  per- 
sons and  brought  themselves  within  the  complice  of 

1  Sussex  to  Elizal)eth,  April  10 :  MSB.  Border, 

2  Sussex  to  Cecil,  April  10:  J/.S.  Ibid. 

8  Petition  of  the  Lords  at  Linlithgow,  April  16:  MSS.  Scotland. 


42  History  of  England.  [Ch.  xix. 

their  wickedness,  he  would  nevertheless  pass  forward 
in  the  performance  of  the  Queen  his  Sovereign's  just 
intentions."  ^ 

Despatching  a  courier  with  copies  of  this  correspond- 
ence to  London,  he  arranged  the  details  of  the  inva- 
sion. The  soldiers  were  Southerners.  The  Border 
levies,  exposed  as  they  would  be  to  after  vengeance, 
could  not  be  relied  upon  to  do  the  intended  work  with 
sufficient  effect.  Seven  hundred  men  were  sent  to 
Carlisle,  to  Scrope,  and  a  thousand  to  Sir  John  Foster 
on  the  Middle  Marches ;  the  remainder  were  kept  at 
Berwick  with  Sussex  himself  and  Hunsdon.  The  line 
was  to  be  crossed  the  same  day  and  hour  at  three  dif- 
ferent points.  Sussex  was  to  march  direct  to  Kelso 
and  follow  the  line  of  the  Teviot  upwards.  Foster 
was  to  enter  half  way  between  Carlisle  and  Berwick, 
and  Scrope  was  left  to  his  discretion,  to  go  where  he 
could  inflict  greatest  injury.  On  the  evening  of  Mon- 
day, the  17th  of  April,  the  two  noblemen  left  Berwick. 
They  halted  at  Wark  till  daybreak  the  following  morn- 
ing, when  they  burned  Kelso,  and  then  passed  up  Tev- 
iotdale  in  two  bodies  on  either  side  of  the  river, 
"  leaving  neither  castle,  tower,  nor  town  undestroyed 
till  they  came  to  Jedburgh."  Every  stone  building, 
large  or  small,  was  blown  up  with  powder  and  left  a 
pile  of  ruin,  while  Leonard  Dacres  and  Lord  Hume 
hovered  about  at  a  safe  distance,  but  did  not  dare  to 
approach.  At  Jedburgh  they  were  joined  by  Foster, 
whose  track  from  the  Cheviots  had  been  marked  by 
the  same  broad  belt  of  desolation.  The  next  day  the 
whole  body  moved  up  the  glen  to  Fernihurst.  They 
found  it  deserted,  the  laird  and  his  gay  lady,  the  refu- 
gees, and  the  thousand  Border  thieves  who  had  nestled 

1  Sussex  to  the  Lords  in  Scotland,  April  17 :  MSS.  Scotland. 


1570.]  Tlie  Reign  of  Elizabeth.  43 

in  its  outhouses,  being  all  flown  or  hiding  among  the 
chfFs  which  overhang  the  banks  of  the  Jedd.  With 
powder  and  pickaxe  they  "  rent  and  tore  "  the  solid 
masonry,  till  not  a  man  could  find  shelter  from  the 
rain  among  the  ruins  ;  and  thence,  still  sparing  noth- 
ing but  the  earth  cabins  of  the  poor,  they  advanced  to 
Hawick.  At  Hawick  the  inhabitants,  "  like  unjust 
men  "  (so  Hunsdon  called  them),  had  stripped  the 
tliatch  from  their  houses,  and  had  set  it  on  fire  in  the 
street,  so  that  the  soldiers  could  not  enter  the  town, 
and  were  obliged  to  sleep  "  uneasily  "  —  they  had  no 
tents  with  them — in  the  open  air.  On  Thursday 
morning  they  finished  the  work  which  the  people  had 
begun,  bv  burning  evervthing  that  was  left ;  after 
which,  while  Foster  was  making  an  end  of  "  the  towns 
and  villages "  adjoining,  Sussex  and  Hunsdon,  with 
two  or  three  companies  of  horse,  rode  out  to  Branx- 
holme  to  do  vengeance  on  Sir  Walter  Scott  of  Buc- 
cleuch.  The  Scotts  were  so  powerful  that  Branx- 
holme  had  been  a  kind  of  sanctuary.  They  found  it 
"  a  very  strong  house  well  set  with  pleasant  gardens 
and  orchards  about  it  well  kept,"  a  little  island  of 
beauty  in  the  surrounding  black  desolation.  Buc- 
cleuch  had  anticipated  the  invaders  by  himself  applying 
the  torch,  and  "  the  woodwork  was  burnt  to  their  hand 
as  cruelly  as  they  could  have  burnt  it  themselves  ; " 
but  the  place  would  still  serve  the  purpose  of  a  for- 
tress ;  Sussex  therefore  laid  powder  barrels  in  the  cel- 
lar, and  of  the  present  "  house  "  there  are  but  a  few 
fragments  which  survived  that  desolating  visit. 

From  Hawick  the  soldiers  spread  in  parties  about 
the  country,  converging  back  upon  Jedburgh  and 
Kelso,  and  thence  at  the  end  of  the  week  tliey  re- 
turned to  Berwick,  not  a  Scot  having  ventured  a 
stroke  to  save  his  property. 


44  History  of  England.  [Ch.  xix. 

Scrope  meanwhile  had  been  no  less  active.  Buc- 
cleucli  and  Fernihurst  were  the  chief  offenders  on  the 
east  Marches.  Scrope's  duty  was  to  inflict  chastise- 
ment on  Herries  and  Maxwell.  On  the  Tuesday- 
night  he  crossed  the  Esk  and  began  his  work  at  day- 
break on  Wednesday,  at  Ecclesfechan.  After  destroy- 
ing this  he  burnt  the  country  to  the  south  and  east 
of  Dumfries,  and  round  by  Cummartrees  to  Annan. 
Eight  or  ten  villages,  called  towns  in  the  old  reports, 
were  set  on  fire,  and  the  corn,  cattle,  and  all  they  con- 
tained consumed  or  carried  off".  As  his  numbers  were 
smaller,  the  Scots  looked  on  less  patiently  ;  a  party 
whom  Scrope  had  detached  under  one  of  the  Mus- 
graves  to  destroy  a  place  called  Blackshaw,  was  set 
upon  by  Maxwell  and  was  in  some  danger ;  but 
Scrope  coming  up  himself  while  the  fight  was  going 
on,  the  Scots  drew  off"  into  the  woods,  and  Musgrave 
finished  his  work  at  leisure. 

There  remained  Hume  Castle,  which  had  been  spe- 
cially fortified  and  was  held  by  a  garrison.  This 
stronghold  at  least  the  Scots  expected  would  be  safe, 
and  they  had  carried  such  property  as  they  could 
move  within  its  walls.  The  beginning  of  the  follow- 
ing week,  Sussex  brought  heavy  guns  from  Berwick, 
and  took  it  after  four  hours'  bombardment.  Fast- 
castle,  the  Wolf's  Crag  of  the  "  Bride  of  Lammer- 
moor,"  followed  the  next  day,  and  both  there  and  at 
Hume  parties  of  English  were  posted,  to  hold  them 
from  the  Scots.  In  the  whole  foray  "  ninety  strong 
castles,  houses,  and  dwelling  places,  with  three  hun- 
dred towns  and  villages,  had  been  utterly  destroyed." 
Peels,  towers,  forts,  every  thieves'  nest  within  twenty 
miles  of  the  Border,  were  laid  in  ruins,  and  Sussex, 
whatever  else  might  be  the  effect,  had  provided  for 


1570.]  The  Beign  of  Elizabeth.  45 

some  time  to  come  for  the  quiet  of  the  English 
Marches.^ 

How  the  pride  of  Scotland  would  bear  such  a  touch 
of  the  English  lash  was  another  question  :  there  were 
few  differences  among  themselves  which  the  Scots 
would  not  forget  till  a  blow  from  England  had  been 
paid  back  with  interest ;  and  Morton,  and  Morton's 
friends,  Avere  not  likely  to  incur  the  reproach  of  being 
traitors  to  their  country  for  the  thankless  service  of 
Elizabeth.  Had  they  been  willing,  they  were  power- 
less, for  they  had  ruined  their  fortunes  in  maintaining 
Muri'ay's  Regency,  and  Morton,  Ruthven,  and  Lind- 
say together  could  scarcely  keep  on  foot  two  hundred 
men.2  On  hearing  of  the  foray  they  sent  to  Berwick 
to  say,  that  they  neither  would  nor  could  continue 
their  present  attitude.  Elizabeth  must  speak  out 
plainly,  or  they  would  make  terms  with  the  Hamil- 
tons.  "  Ye  think,"  wrote  Grange  to  Randolph,  —  "  ye 
think  by  the  division  that  is  among  us,  ye  will  be  judge 
and  party;  ye  have  wrecked  Teviotdale,  your  mis- 
tress's honour  is  repaired,  and  I  pray  you  seek  to  do 
us  no  more  harm,  for  in  the  end  you  will  lose  more 
than  you  can  gain.  The  Queen  your  mistress  shall 
spend  mickle  silver,  and  tyne  our  hearts  in  the  end  ; 
for  whatever  you  do  to  any  Scotchman  the  haill  nation 
will  think  their  own  interest."  ^ 

"  The  Queen,"  wrote  Sussex,  "  must  discover  her- 


1  Notes  of  the  raids  made  into  Scotland  by  the  Earl  of  Sussex,  AprU, 
1570:  Conway  MSS.  Ilunsdon  to  Cecil,  A]}ril  23:  MSS.  Border.  Scrope 
to  Sussex,  April  21 :  MSS.  Scotland. 

2  Lennox  to  Cecil,  April  27 :  MSS.  Scotland. 

8  Grange  to  Randolph,  April  20.  Grange  had  been  a  fellow-student  with 
Randolph  at  a  French  university,  and  still  wrote  to  him,  half  in  irony,  as 
"  Brother  Thomas." 


46  History  of  England.  [Ch.  xix. 

self  plainly  to  maintain  the  King's  authority,"  or  Eng- 
land will  not  have  a  friend  left  in  Scotland. ^ 

The  resentment  must  have  been  foreseen  and  may 
easily  have  been  desired  by  Cecil,  as  likely  to  compel 
Elizabeth  to  a  decided  course  at  last.  The  question 
of  Mary  Stuart's  restoration  was  still  daily  debated  in 
the  Council :  "  Cecil  and  Bacon  said  no,  the  nobility 
said  vea  ;  while  the  Queen  was  supposed  to  stand  in- 
different, and  to  wish  to  do  what  w^as  most  for  her 
strength,  if  she  wist  what  that  might  be."  ^  Yet  it 
seemed  as  if  her  resolution  had  failed  after  one  bold 
step.  She  continued  privately  to  write  to  Maitland, 
and  Maitland  was  able  to  give  out  that  Mary  Stuart 
was  certainly  coming  back  ;  ^  and  with  this  prospect 
the  King's  party  felt  obliged,  in  common  prudence,  to 
make  their  peace  without  longer  delay.  It  might  have 
been  thought  that  Elizabeth  would  have  had  no  objec- 
tion. A  composition,  a  reconciliation  of  parties,  and 
a  voluntary  reacceptance  of  the  deposed  Queen,  had 
been  all  along  what  she  seemed  to  have  desired.  But 
she  had  conditions,  necessary  as  she  supposed  for  her 
own  security,  which  she  meant  to  make  the  price  of 
Mary  Stuart's  release,  and  she  could  extort  them  only 
so  long  as  a  King's  party  continued  in  Scotland,  Avhom 
she  could  threaten  to  support  if  they  were  refused. 
If  a  united  Scottish  Parliament  demanded  her  libera- 
tion, Elizabeth  knew  that  she  could  not  dare  any 
longer  to  detain  her,  and  the   Leith  treaty  would  be 


1  Sussex  to  Cecil,  April  23:  3rSS.  Scotland. 

2  Sir  Francis  Englefield  to  Mrs.  Essex,  April  21:  MSS.  Spain,  Rolls 
House. 

3  "  Lidington  gives  out  plainly  that  the  Queen  of  England  is  determined 
to  send  home  their  Queen  and  maintain  her  faction,  and  this  encourages 
them  and  appalls  their  contrary." — Hunsdon  to  Cecil:  MSS.  Border 
April  23. 


1570.]  The  Reign  of  Elizabeth.  47 

left  unsigned,  and  Mary  Stuart,  with  half  her  subjects 
at  her  back,  would  again  call  herself  Queen  of  Eng- 
land. The  Pi-otestant  Lords  perfectly  understood  her 
embarrassment,  and  had  no  intention  of  saci-ificinir 
themselves  for  her  convenience. ^ 

The  Lady  at  Tutbury,  meanwhile,  was  making  Eu- 
rope ring  with  her  cries.  It  was  not  for  herself  that 
she  now  pleaded,  but  for  her  country,  which  the  an- 

1  Sussex  perfoi-med  the  ungracious  office  of  forcing  Elizabeth  to  look  the 
situation  in  the  face. 

"  The  King's  Lords,"  he  wrote  to  her,  "  for  lack  of  maintenance  see  only 
destruction  to  themselves ;  the  rather  for  that  it  is  delivered  to  them  that 
your  Majesty  intends  to  restore  their  mistress.  If  it  be  your  JIajcsty's  in- 
tention to  bring  all  Scotland  to  the  mother's  side,  then  is  the  course  good 
they  now  begin  to  run  in  that  country,  and  your  Highness  shall  see  the 
case  at  an  end  quickly,  which,  under  correction,  had  been  better  to  have 
been  done  under  j'our  direction  than  at  their  own  choice.  If,  on  the  other 
hand,  j-our  Majesty  intend  to  let  this  coui-se  and  to  continue  a  party  for  the 
child,  then  must  you  of  necessity  openly  take  upon  you  the  maintenance  of 
his  authority  as  King ;  send  presently  money  to  such  as  take  his  part  to 
levy  for  a  time  men  of  war  of  their  own,  and  aid  them  besides  with  your 
forces  here  to  bring  the  rest  to  yield  to  that  authority:  to  get  in  their  hands 
all  the  strengths  in  any  part  of  the  realm  that  stand  in  lit  place  to  receive 
any  foreign  power."  —  Sussex  to  Elizabeth,  April  2.3:  MSS.  Scotland. 

Two  days  later  he  ivrote  to  the  same  effect  to  Cecil. 

"  If  her  Majesty  lack  a  sufficient  party,  the  ftiult  is  in  herself.  Morton 
and  his  faction  say  that  if  she  will  enter  into  public  maintenance  of  the 
King,  and  send  money  to  entertain  3000  soldiers  of  their  own  for  three 
months,  and  command  the  force  here  to  aid  them  for  that  time,  they  will 
bring  all  Scotland  in  effect  to  obey  their  authority  and  yield  in  sense  to 
England  without  the  Queen's  charges.  The  time  passes  away,  and  her 
Majesty  must  resolve  what  she  will  do.  If  she  wiU  restore  the  Scottish 
Queen,  it  was  no  good  policy  for  me  to  shew  countenance  on  the  other 
side.  If  she  will  maintain  the  other  side  and  command  me  to  join  with 
them,  I  will  make  all  men  within  thirty  miles  of  the  Border  obey  that  au- 
thority or  I  will  not  leave  a  stone  house  for  any  of  them  to  sleep  in.  And 
if  she  command  me  to  pass  further,  I  will  deliver  the  Castle  of  Edinburgh 
or  any  others  in  Scotland  to  the  hands  of  any  whom  Morton  witii  her  IMaj- 
esty's  consent  shall  appoint.  But  these  matters  have  too  long  slept.  It  is 
time  to  wake;  and  therefore,  good  Mr.  Secretary,  sound  the  Queen's  Maj- 
esty's mind  fully;  and  if  she  resolve  to  restore  the  Scottish  Queen,  advise 
her  to  do  it  in  convenient  sort,  and  suffer  me  not  to  put  my  finger  in  the 
fire  without  cause,  and  her  to  be  dra^vn  into  it  b}'  such  degrees  as  are 
neither  honourable  nor  sure."  —  Sussex  to  Cecil,  April  25:   MSS.  Ilatfivld. 


48  Bistort/  of  England.  [Ch.  xix, 

cient  enemy  was  Invading  and  laying  waste.  She  be- 
sieged Charles  IX.  and  Catherine  de  Medici  with 
entreaties  to  rouse  themselves  out  of  their  sleep,  and 
hurry  to  the  rescue  of  their  old  allies.  To  the  Span- 
ish Ambassador  she  wi'ote,  that  if  Philip  and  Alva  sat 
still  her  cause  would  be  ruined  forever,  and  with  it 
the  Holy  Catholic  faith.^  Driving  the  spur  into  the 
languid  side  of  her  English  allies,  she  told  Norfolk,  that 
"  she  would  be  soon  forced  to  consent  to  deliver  her 
son  and  embrace  the  Protestant  religion  to  get  her  lib- 
erty ;  "  ^  while  to  the  Pope,  ignorant  as  yet  what  he 
had  done  for  her,  she  poured  out  an  impassioned  flood 
of  pious  rhetoric.  She  described  herself  as  longing 
for  the  time  when  she  could  uproot  heresy  and  restore 
the  blessed  faith  of  Christ.  She  besought  him  to  lay 
his  injunctions  on  the  Catholic  Princes  to  stand  her 
friends  in  the  hour  of  trial,  or  else,  since  they  seemed 
so  remiss,  she  asked  his  gracious  absolution  if  she 
made  use  of  perfidy,  if,  like  Naaman,  she  bowed  her 
head  in  the  House  of  Rimmon  ;  plied  Elizabeth  ^  with 
loving  letters  and  smooth  speeches  and  cunning  pres- 
ents, and  so  tempted  her,  through  false  confidence,  to 
unlock  her  cage.* 

Unfortunately  for  Mary  Stuart's  prospects  she  had 
too  many  friends.  France  and  Spain  both  wished  her 
well,  but  could  not  trust  each  other,  and  neither  could 
trust  the    Pope.     In    Scotland,    "  some  were   desper- 

1  La  Reyna  de  Escocia  a  Don  Guerau  de  Espes,  April,  1570:  MS.  Si- 
mancas. 

2  Maiy  Stuart  to  the  Duke  of  Norfolk,  March  19  and  April  18 :  Laba- 
noff,  Vol.  III. 

3  She  did  not  call  her  Queen. 

4  "  Quod  ego  Elizabethan!  Uteris  amanter  scriptis,  donis  affabre  factis 
aliisque  symbolis  humanitatis  datis  in  amorem  benevolentiamque  mei  illi- 
ciam."  —  Message  from  Slary  Stuart  to  the  Pope  sent  though  the  Bishop 
of  Ross,  April  20 :  LabanofF,  Vol.  III. 


1570.]  TJie  Reign  of  Elizabeth.  49 

atelj  affected  Protestants  ;  "  ^  some,  like  Maitland,  de- 
sired to  marry  her  to  Norfolk  ;  some  to  a  native  Scot, 
a  Gordon  or  a  Hamilton.  The  Cardinal  of  Lorraine 
destined  her  for  the  Duke  of  Anjou  ;  the  King  of  Spain 
and  Alva  saw  in  such  a  marriage  the  death-blow  to 
the  Spanish  Empire.^  In  England  some  wished  her 
out  of  the  country,  her  presence  there  being  so  dan- 
gerous to  the  Queen  ;  others  wished  to  keep  her  there 
as  heir  presumptive  and  Norfolk's  wife  :  Protestants 
•wished  it  because  Norfolk  was  outwardly  a  Protestant ; 
Catholics,  because  they  believed  Norfolk  to  be  a  Cath- 
olic at  heart,  and  to  be  waiting  only  for  the  completion 
of  the  marriage  to  declare  himself.  Others,  again  — 
the  Catholics  proper,  avIio  had  been  persecuted,  who 
had  kept  up  the  practice  of  their  faith  in  foul  weather 
and  fair ;  the  conspirators  of  the  Northern  Counties, 
or  those  who  sliared  the  feelings  expressed  in  the  Lin- 
colnshire address  to  Philip  —  had  no  confidence  in 
Norfolk,  and  little  in  the  Queen  of  Scots.  They  were 
wilhng  to  support  her  claim  to  the  succession,  for  they 
had  no  alternative  ;  but  they  would  have  her  a  depend- 
ent upon  Spain,  married,  if  possible,  to  Don  John  of 
Austria,  or  so  married,  at  any  rate,  that  her  husband 
sliould  be  a  Catholic  indeed  who  had  never  stained  his 
faith  by  a  seeming  apostasy .^  Yet  they,  too,  had  their 
misgivings  and  their  uncertainties.  The  friends  of 
England  at  Edinburgh  were  "  appalled  "  by  the  vacil- 
lation of  Elizabeth.  The  English  admirers  of  Spain 
were  "  dismayed  by  the  careless  regard  "  with  which 
Philip  looked  on  upon  their  sufferings,  and  were  be- 

1  George  Chamberlain  to  the  Duchess  of  Feria,  April  5 :  MSS.  Spain, 
Rolls  Hftuse. 

2  Don  Guerau  to  Philip,  April  25:  MS.  Simancas. 

8  Chamberlain  to  the  Duchess  of  Feria,  April  5;  Sir  T.  Englefield  to  the 
Duchess  of  Feria,  May  17 :  MSS.  Spain. 

VOL.    X.  4 


50  History  of  England.  [Ch.  xix. 

ginning  to  think  that  they  had  no  refuge  but  in  God. 
"  The  Spaniards,"  said  Sir  Francis  Engle- 
field,  "  dwelt  and  busied  themselves  so  long 
in  deliberation  that  the  opportunity  was  gone  before 
they  could  resolve  to  act."  Philip  threw  the  responsi- 
bility upon  Alva  ;  and  Alva  "  would  do  no  iota  more 
than  came  expressly  commanded  by  his  sovereign."  ^ 
Elizabeth  herself  was  still  the  truest  friend  that  the 
Queen  of  Scots  possessed.  If  the  threat  of  turning 
Protestant  had  been  fulfilled  in  sincerity  ;  if  the  lying 
demonstrations  of  affection  in  which  Mary  Stuart 
asked  the  Pope's  permission  to  indulge  had  been  made 
in  earnest ;  or  if,  with  or  without  affection,  the  con- 
spiring and  intriguing  had  been  conclusively  abandoned, 
Elizabeth  would  indisputably  have  sent  her  back  to 
Scotland,  replaced  and  maintained  her  on  the  throne, 
and  would  have  yielded  at  last,  however  monstrous  it 
might  have  seemed,  on  the  long-coveted  point  of  the 
English  succession.  Without  seeing  the  application 
for  absolution,  Elizabeth  understood  her  prisoner  too 
well  by  this  time  to  indulge  in  so  vain  an  expectation  ; 
yet,  although  she  could  not  trust  her  at  liberty,  she 
still  hoped  "  that  means  could  be  found "  by  which, 
though  on  the  throne,  her  hands  could  be  tied,  her 
teeth  drawn,  and  her  claws  pared. 

The  affair  on  the  Border  led  to  angry  words  with 
the  Court  of  Paris.  La  Mothe,  at  the  instigation  of 
Arundel,  obtained  a  letter  from  the  King  threatening 
that  if  the  invasion  was  repeated,  a  French  army  would 
be  landed  at  Dumbarton  or  at  Aberdeen.  Elizabeth 
answered  boldly,  that  "  to  submit  without  resistance  to 
the  inroads  of  the  Borderers  would  be  to  abandon  the 
English  Realm  to  be  conquered  by  rebellion,  and  to 

1  Englefield  to  the  Duchess  of  Feria,  May  17 :  MSS.  Spain. 


1570.]  The  Reign  of  Elizaheth.  51 

yield  her  crown  to  any  that  would  w4th  force  invade 
it."  If  "  with  the  French  King's  help,"  however, 
"  reasonable  conditions  could  be  made  by  which  Eng- 
land could  be  secured  from  the  Queen  of  Scots' 
machinations  and  Scotland  be  quietly  governed,  she 
professed  herself  still  ready  to  do  her  part  to  bring 
about  a  composition."  ^ 

It  was  less  easy  to  manage  her  impatient  friends  at 
Edinburgh.  Cecil  was  still  for  open  measures :  war 
with  the  Hamiltons  and  the  Gordons  ;  war,  if  neces- 
sary, with  France,  for  anything  which  would  end  a 
situation  which  he  regarded  as  infinitely  dangerous. 
The  name  of  war,  however,  was  intolerable  to  EHza- 
beth.  She  wrote  to  Sussex  detailing  her  many  em- 
barrassments, and  telling  him  that  in  some  way  he 
must  keep  the  King's  party  together  "  till  she  had 
time  to  make  choice  whether  she  would  restore  the 
Queen  of  Scots  or  not."  He  might  lay  the  blame  on 
Morton  ;  he  might  say  "  her  backwardness  had  been 
rather  his  fault  than  hers  ;  "  "  his  manner  of  dealing 
had  been  slow  and  uncertain,  and  she  had  not  known 
what  to  look  for  from  him  :  "  while,  on  the  other  hand, 
he  mio-ht  tell  Maitland  not  to  be  foolish  and  ungrate- 
ful  ;  encourage  the  Protestants  with  hope  ;  soothe  the 
others  with  "  quiet  means  and  messages,"  and  lead 
them  both  to  depend  upon  England. 

So  much  for  the  Scots.  "  But  Sussex  himself,"  she 
said,  "  would  expect  to  know  what  she  meant  to  do  ; 
and  she  was  obliged  to  own  frankly  that  she  could  not 
tell.  It  would  touch  her  in  surety  to  have  the  King's 
party  suddenly  decay.  It  would  touch  her  in  honour 
if  she  should  by  her  promises  procure  them  to  stand 
with  her,  and  in  the  end  not  see  them  maintained  or 
1  Instructions  to  Sir  H.  Norris,  May  2:  MSS.  France. 


52  History  of  England.  [Ch.  xix. 

provided  for ;  and  there  was  a  danger  also  that  if  she 
sent  them  money,  they  might  take  it  and  not  serve  her 
purpose  after  aU.  The  whole  cause  was  thus  full  of 
doubt.  Morton  desired  to  know  whether  she  would 
support  him  against  those  who  maintained  the  Queen's 
authority.  She  could  but  say  that  she  Avould  still 
commission  Sussex  to  proceed  against  all  who  assisted 
the  English  rebels.  If  they  happened  to  be  the  same 
persons  who  were  the  friends  of  the  Queen,  Sussex's 
business  lay  with  acts,  and  not  with  titles  ;  and  the 
King's  party  might  take  as  much  profit  of  his  deeds 
for  their  aid  as  they  should  do  if  he  used  more  open 
words."  1 

So  far,  perhaps,  Elizabeth's  course  was  not  indefen- 
sible. It  was  involved,  but  it  was  at  least  economical ; 
and  as  long  as  she  was  moving  in  the  riglit  direction, 
the  quarter  towards  which  she  was  turning  her  eyes 
mattered  little.  But  Elizabeth  was  a  strange  woman  ^ 
or  rather  she  was  a  woman  and  a  man  ;  she  was  her- 
self and  Cecil ;  and  while  her  acts  were  the  joint  re- 
sult of  her  own  inclinations  and  Cecil's  counsel,  she 
gave  way  among  her  women  and  her  favourites  to  her 
personal  humovirs.  She  spoke  of  the  Lords  at  Lin- 
lithgow as  the  loyal  subjects  of  their  sovereign  ;  she 
denounced  Morton  and  his  friends  as  traitors  ;  and 
when  Sussex  tried  to  execute  the  hard  part  imposed 
upon  him,  the  words  were  flung  back  into  his  teeth. 
She  wrote  to  Maitland  "  more  gentle  and  loving  lettei's 
than  ever  she  did."  She  persuaded  him  that  "  he 
knew  the  bottom  of  her  secrets ;  "  and  while  by  her 
imprudent  words  and  doings  "  she  struck  a  chill  into 
the  heart  of  every  Scot  and  Englishman  who  wished 
her  well,"  Maitland,  the  object  of  her  attentions,  felt 
1  Elizabeth  to  Sussex,  April  30:  MSS.  Scotland. 


1570.]  The  Beign  of  Elizabeth.  63 

nothing  but  contempt  foi'  her  weakness.  He  said 
"  she  was  inconstant,  irresolute,  and  fearful  ;  and  be- 
fore the  game  Avas  played  out,  he  would  make  her  sit 
upon  her  tail  and  whine  like  a  whipped  hound."  ^ 

Maitland  had  to  find  to  his  sorrow  that  he  had  seen 
less  deeply  than  he  supposed  ;  but  if  Elizabeth  was 
misleadino;  her  enemies,  she  was  misleadino;  her  friends 
also.  She  had  spread  such  a  mist  about  herself  and 
her  intentions,  that  those  who  knew  her  best  could  not 
tell  what  to  look  for  at  her  hands.  In  Scotland  the 
ferment  was  fast  increasing.  A  French  fleet  was 
daily  expected  at  Dumbarton,  bringing  arms  and 
money,  if  not  men.  Morton  refused  to  accept  the  pal- 
liatives which  were  offered  him  by  Sussex.  He  in- 
sisted on  communicating  immediately  with  Elizabeth, 
and  sent  the  Commendator  of  Dumfermline  to  London 
to  demand  a  straightforward  explanation.  He  de- 
clined for  himself  and  his  friends  to  accept  the  blame 
which  she  affected  to  throw  upon  him.  She  was  her- 
self, he  said,  the  original  cause  of  the  whole  trouble 
by  breaking  the  promises  Avhich  she  had  made  to  the 
Earl  of  Murray  at  Westminster,  and  by  refusing  after- 
wards to  publish  to  the  world  the  evidence  of  the 
Queen  of  Scots'  guilt.  She  must  now  come  forward 
publicly  on  the  King's '  side  and  supply  them  with 
money  and  men,  or  they  "  would  not  run  her  course  " 
any  longer.^  Dumfermline,  as  he  passed  through 
Berwick,  told  Sussex  the  nature  of  his  message.  Sus- 
sex could  but  add  to  it  "  that  the  Queen  must  decide 
quickly  or  she  would  lose  both  parties.     He  could  but 

1  Sussex  to  Cecil,  May  12,  May  17;  Sussex  to  Elizabeth,  May  17: 
MSiS.  Scotlftiifl. 

2  Instructions  to  the  Commendator  of  Dumfermline.  Sent  by  the  Earls 
of  Morton,  Mar,  and  Glencairn  to  the  Queen  of  England,  May  1 :  MS. 
Ibid. 


54  Eistory  of  England.  [Ch.  xix. 

pray  God  to  put  in  her  heart  to  choose  the  more  hon- 


ourable course."  ^ 


Meanwhile  the  Council  in  London  had  been  dis- 
cussing conditions  with  the  Bishop  of  Ross,  on  which 
the  Queen  of  Scots'  restoration  could  be  effected. 
The  Bishop  was  still  deep  in  conspiracies,  at  work  in- 
cessantly with  Don  Guerau  and  the  Catholic  leaders ; 
but  while  there  were  hopes  of  obtaining  his  mistress's 
release  from  Elizabeth,  he  had  never  ceased  to  urge 
her  yielding  humour,  and  spared  neither  oaths  nor 
protestations  to  persuade  her  that  she  might  make  the 
venture  with  safety.  Elizabeth,  however,  did  not 
mean  to  trust  to  promises.  She  insisted,  as  before,  on 
the  ratification  of  the  treaty  of  Leith  ;  she  insisted 
that  neither  French  nor  Spanish  troops  should  be  in- 
vited over  to  Scotland ;  but  she  required  substantial 
securities  that  the  Queen  of  Scots  should  not  escape 
from  her  engagements  on  the  plea  that  they  were  ex- 
torted from  her  under  restraint.  The  Prince  should 
be  brought  up  in  England.  Argyle  and  Fleming 
should  accompany  him  and  reside  at  the  English  Court 
as  hostages.  An  English  garrison  should  hold  Dum- 
barton Castle,  and  Dunbar,  perhaps,  as  well  as  Hume 
and  Fastcastle  ;  and  the  Queen  of  Scots  must  under- 
take for  the  surrender  of  the  Earls  of  Westinorelaiid 
and  Northumberland.'^ 

These  terms,  with  the  guarantee  of  France  for  their 
observance,  would  suffice  for  England ;  but  Elizabeth, 
in  decency  as  well  as  prudence,  had  to  insist  also  on 
other  stipulations  for  the  internal  government  of  Scot- 
land.    The  Bishop  of  Ross  seemed  to  be  inclined  to 

1  Sussex  to  Elizabeth,  May  1 :  MSS.  Scotland. 

2  Notes  in  Cecil's  hand,  May,  1570 :  MSS.  Mary  Queen  of  Scots,  RoUa 
House. 


1570.]  TJie  Reign  of  Elizabeth.  55 

yield  to  anything  which  miglit  be  demanded  ;  and  the 
negotiations  had  begun  to  make  progress,  when  they 
were  interrupted  by  the  appearance  of  two  pamphlets, 
which  had  been  printed  on  the  Continent,  and  had 
been  brought  over  and  circulated  in  London.  They 
were  both  written  by  the  Bishop.  The  first  was  the 
celebrated  treatise  already  alluded  to  "  in  defence  of 
Queen  Mary's  honour."  The  other  was  a  genealog- 
ical statement  of  her  claims  upon  the  English  Crown. 
The  latter  contained  nothing  on  which  a  complaint 
could  be  founded.  The  subject  was  an  extremely 
dangerous  one,  but  the  Queen  of  Scots'  pedigree  was 
a  public  fact  which  could  not  be  disputed.  The  for- 
mer was  a  plea  of  "  not  guilty  "  to  the  charge  that  she 
had  murdered  Darnley.  The  Bishop  had  no  more 
doubt  of  her  complicity,  as  he  afterwards  admitted, 
than  the  rest  of  the  w^orld.  Even  in  his  defence  he 
argued  that,  supposing  the  charges  to  be  true,  she  was 
no  worse  than  David,  and  David  had  not  been  deposed. 
But  the  mutilated  shape  in  which  EHzabeth  had  let 
the  investigation  close,  enabled  him  to  say  that  her 
conduct  had  been  enquired  into,  and  that  she  had  not 
been  found  guilty,  and  he  had  added  that  the  English 
nobility  generally  regarded  her  as  innocent. 

The  two  publications  and  their  composition  formed 
part  of  a  scheme  which  had  been  secretly  arranged 
with  the  Catholics,  but  unhappily  the  Bishop  was  pre- 
mature. It  had  been  agreed  that  every  demand  which 
Elizabeth  might  make  should  be  conceded,  that  the 
treaty  might  not  be  interrupted.  The  detention  of 
the  Queen  of  Scots  would  perhaps  be  continued  for 
some  time  after  its  completion,  but  the  Duke  of  Nor- 
folk w(juld  ])r()bably  be  liberated.  He  too  was  to 
promise  anytliing  ;    to  promise  to  think  no  more  of  the 


5Q  History  of  England.  [Ch.  xix. 

Queen  of  Scots  ;  to  promise  not  to  disturb  the  Estab- 
lished rehgion.  Promises  hghtly  made  could  be  lightly 
broken,^  and  the  Duke,  once  out  and  among  his  own 
people,  could  do  what  he  pleased.  The  pamphlets 
were  then  to  have  appeared,  and  with  them,  or  imme- 
diately after,  the  Bull  of  Deposition.  A  Nuncio  had 
come  from  Rome  to  Paris  with  a  hat  and  sword  for  the 
King,  and  the  Pope  had  hoped  and  desired  that  it 
should  be  formally  published  in  the  Nuncio's  presence 
there.  But  France,  like  Spain,  had  refused  the  ne- 
cessary permission.  A  copy  had  been  smuggled  over 
to  England  in  cipher  by  Ridolfi  ;  and  Ridolfi,  and  La 
Mothe,  and  the  Bishop  of  Ross  were  watching  for  the 
moment  at  which  to  launch  it.^  The  Bull  once  out, 
Spain  or  France  was  expected  to  strike  in.  The 
Catholics,  with  their  misgivings  about  Mary  Stuart 
dispelled  by  the  pamphlets,  were  to  rise  simultaneously 
in  all  parts  of  England.  Norfolk  would  march  on 
Tutbury,  and  Elizabeth  would  fall  in  a  few  weeks  at 
most. 

This  was  the  programme,  and  this  was  the  meaning 
of  the  Bishop's  complacency  in  the  treaty.  The  "  De- 
fence "  was  unfortunately  inconsistent  with  the  hu- 
mihty   of  his  attitude.     It  was  the  first  indication  to 

1  "  Los  deste  consejo  blandian  mas  con  el  Duque  de  Norfolk,  y  me  han 
avisado  que  mafiana  han  de  venir  Cecil  y  otro  del  Consejo  a  hablarles  en  la 
Torre,  y  ver  que  seguridad  podra  dar  a  la  Eeyna  de  su  fidelidad  de  no 
casarse  con  la  Reyna  de  Escocia,  y  de  no  ayudar  a  rimover  esta  religion 
que  aca  tienen.  El  esta  advertido  de  qfrecerles  mucho.  .  .  Seria  possible 
que  saiga  presto ;  en  lo  cual  puede  considerar  V^  Excelencia  que  salido 
puede  con  gran  facilidad  librar  la  de  Escocia  y  alterar  todo  el  rej'no  Si 
es  bien  que  haga  mas  con  el  amparo  del  Rey  n™  Seiior  que  de  Franceses, 
y  estando  V*  Ex''  resuelto  en  esto  general,  escribire  en  lo  particular 
algunas  cosas  que  me  parece  se  podran  hacer  convenientes  a  esta  fin."  — 
Descifrada.  Don  Guerau  de  Espes  al  Duque  de  Alva,  Mayo,  1570:  MS.  Si~ 
mancas. 

2  Don  Guerau  to  Alva,  May  10:  MS.  Ibid. 


1570.]  TJie  Reign  of  Elizabeth.  67 

the  English  Government  that  the  plea  of  innocence 
would  seriously  be  set  forward  in  the  Queen  of  Scots' 
behalf.  He  was  sent  for  to  Bacon's  house  and  re- 
quired to  explain  what  he  meant  by  saying  that  the 
nobility  disbelieved  her  guilt.  He  said  that  she  had 
offered  to  defend  herself  in  the  Queen  of  England's 
presence  :  the  Queen  of  England  had  refused  to  hear 
her,  and  she  was  therefore  held  acquitted  of  the 
charge. 

Bacon  carried  "  the  books  "  to  the  Queen,  and  the 
vieldino;  humour  which  would  have  allowed  the  scheme 
to  ripen  was  instantly  hardened.  Anmdel,  to  coun- 
teract the  effect,  brought  forward  La  Mothe,  and  the 
Queen  was  told  that  France  could  not  and  would  not 
allow  Mary  Stuart  to  be  kept  in  England.  Elizabeth 
fired  up  in  her  proudest  style. 

"  She  was  astonished,"  she  said,  "  that  the  King  of 
France  should  think  so  lightly  of  the  Queen  of  Scots' 
enormities.  Her  friends  had  given  shelter  to  the  Eng- 
lish rebels,  and  with  her  aid  and  connivance  they  had 
levied  war  against  her  with  fire  and  sword.  No  sov- 
ereign in  Europe  would  sit  down  under  such  a  provo- 
cation, and  she  would  count  herself  unworthy  of  realm, 
crown,  and  name  of  Queen  if  she  endured  it." 

La  Mothe  replied  that  the  King  of  France  could  not 
desert  his  sister-in-law ;  Elizabeth  might  name  her 
own  conditions,  and  his  master  would  undertake  that 
they  should  be  observed  ;  but  if  she  continued  to  pal- 
ter, he  would  be  forced,  however  unwillingly,  to  inter- 
fere, and  would  hold  himself  acquitted  before  God  and 
the  world  for  any  consequences  which  might  follow, 

"  It  was  easy  to  speak  of  conditions,"  the  Queen 
answered,  "  but  she  must  have  better  security  than 
words  for  their  fulfilment.     The  Bishop  of  Ross  had 


58  History  of  England.  [Cn.  xix. 

said  that  the  abdication  of  Lochleven  went  for  notliing. 
Francis  I.  had  disowned  the  engagements  with  which 
he  had  bound  himself  in  Spain  ;  and  even  Maitland 
had  been  heard  to  say  that  promises  given  under  re- 
straint were  nothing.^  The  Earl  of  Westmoreland, 
notwithstanding  the  harrying  of  the  Borders,  was  still 
the  guest  of  the  Hamiltons." 

Bacon  caught  the  opportunity,  while  the  indignation 
at  the  Bishop's  book  was  fresh,  to  urge  her  to  strike 
another  blow  in  Scotland,  and  show  France  that  she 
was  not  to  be  frightened  by  La  Mothe's  threats. 
Lennox  had  gone  down  to  Berwick,  and  couriers  fol- 
lowed him  with  orders  to  Sussex  again  to  set  his  troops 
in  motion. 

Sussex  himself  had  caught  a  cold  by  sleeping  in  the 
air  at  Hawick ;  the  cold  had  been  followed  by  fever, 
and  he  could  not  leave  his  bed.  But  Sir  William 
Drury,  the  marshal  of  the  army,  would  be  as  useful  in 
the  field  as  himself.  The  Borders  had  suffered  suffi- 
ciently ;  the  Hamiltons  were  the  centre  of  the  anti- 
English  Confederacy,  and  no  heavier  blow  could  be 
dealt  to  Mary  Stuart,  no  material  support  short  of  the 
recognition  of  the  King  could  be  given  more  effect- 
ively  to  Morton,  than  a  direct  attack  on  Chatelherault 
himself. 

On  the  10th  of  May  the  army  was  again  in  Scottish 
territory  on  its  mission  of  destruction,  with  the  Earl 
of  Lennox  in  Drury's  company  as  the  representative 
of  James,  and  Morton,  taking  courage  at  last,  gave 
them  a  formal  and  friendly  reception  at  Edinburgh. 
The  news  of  their  coming  flew  swiftly  to  Chatelherault, 

1  The  words  which  Maitland  was  said  to  have  used  were  —  "  Quae  in 
vinculis  aguntur  rata  non  habebo  et  frangeuti  fidem,  fides  frangatur  eidem.' ' 
Depeches  de  La  Mothe  Fcnelon,  May  8,  1570.  Compare  MSS.  Mary  Queen 
of  Scots,  May,  1570,  Rolls  House. 


1570.]  The  Reign  of  Elizabeth.  59 

and  the  Duke  and  his  sons,  unable  to  defend  tliem- 
selves  at  home,  made  a  dasli  on  Glasgow  Castle,  sur- 
prised the  gates,  and  forced  their  way  into  the  inner 
court ;  but  they  were  repulsed  with  loss,  and  retired 
with  Westmoreland  into  the  Highlands,  while  Drur}-, 
Morton,  and  Lennox  advanced  leisurely  upon  Hamil- 
ton.    They  carried  guns  with  them,  and  after  a  few 
shots  the  garrison  left  by  the  Duke  capitulated.     The 
plunder  was  given  to  the  soldiers.      The  castle  itself, 
the  town,  "  half  a  score  of  villages,"  and  all  the  houses 
of  the  Hamilton  family  in    the    neighbourhood,   were 
burnt  and  blown  up.     Dumbarton  ought  to  have  fol- 
lowed, for  Dumbarton  was  an  open  port  through  which 
the  French  at  any  time  could  have  access  into  Scot- 
land.    But  Drury  was  tied   by  his  orders  and  would 
not  meddle  with  it.     While  his  troops  halted  at  Glas- 
gow, he  went  down  with  a  party  of  horse  to  survey 
the  fortress  for  future  contingencies.     He  was  shot  at 
from    the    ditches,  but  no  harm  was    done,  and    after 
taking  the  necessary  notes  he  rejoined  his  men.     From 
Glasgow  he  went  to  Linlithgow,  where  a  "  palace  " 
belontrino-  to  Chatelherault  shared  the  fate  of  Hamil- 
ton.     The  house  from  which  the    Regent   had    been 
shot  was  destroyed,  with  every  building  or  homestead 
belonging  to  any  of  the  Hamiltons'  name  or  lineage  ; 
and  with  this  emphatic  act  of  justice  the  English  at 
the  end  of  the  month  returned  to  Edinburgh. 

Meanwhile  a  remarkable  event  had  taken  place  in 
London.  Desperate  at  this  second  invasion  and  the 
failure  of  La  Mothe's  threats,  the  Bishop  of  Ross  had 
played  the  card  which  he  had  reserved  in  his  hand. 
On  the  morning  of  the  15th  of  May  the  Bull  declaring 
Elizabeth  deposed  and  her  subjects  absolved  from  their 
allegiance  was  found  nailed  against  the  Bishop  of  Lon- 


60  History  of  Englayid.  [Cn.  xix. 

don's  door,  and  whateA'er  the  Catholic  Powers  niifdit 
do  or  not  do,  the  Catholic  Church  had  formally  de- 
clared war.  The  experiment  had  been  tried  before 
against  Henry  VIII.  and  had  effected  nothino;.  The 
superstitious  terrors  once  attaching  to  the  Vatican 
thunders  had  long  disappeared.  But  Ehzabeth  was 
not  Henry,  and  the  England  and  the  Europe  of  1570 
were  not  the  England  and  the  Europe  of  1539.  In 
some  respects  the  advantage  was  with  the  Queen. 
The  Catholic  Church  had  no  longer  the  prestige  of 
ancient  sovereignty,  for  the  first  time  disturbed  and 
broken.  It  no  longer  counted  among-  its  friends  men 
of  noble  intelligence  like  Sir  Thomas  More.  It  was 
disgraced  by  the  cruelties  which  had  attended  its  res- 
toration under  Mary,  and  its  strength  lay  now  among 
the  meaner  elements  of  secret  conspiracy  and  disaffec- 
tion. On  the  other  hand,  as  the  doctrinal  tendencies 
of  the  Reformation  had  developed  themselves,  the 
division  line  of  the  two  creeds  had  become  more 
strongly  marked.  The  instinctive  dislike  of  English 
gentlemen  for  revolutionary  changes,  the  uncertainty 
of  the  succession,  the  sense  of  insecurity  from  the  po- 
litical isolation  of  the  country,  had  created  a  vague  but 
general  discontent  among  the  masses  of  the  population. 
The  old-fashioned  piety  was  superseded  by  a  less  re- 
spectable but  more  dangerous  fanaticism  ;  a  fanaticism 
which  no  longer  showed  itself  in  open  and  organised 
political  opposition,  but  was  not  afraid  of  treason,  re- 
bellion, or  murder,  which  fraternised  with  foreign  in- 
vaders, and  was  ready  to  sacrifice  the  interests  of  Eng- 
land to  the  interests  of  the  Church. 

On  the  Continent,  too,  the  Council  of  Trent  had 
closed  the  prospect  of  ecclesiastical  reconciliation.  The 
Catholics,    wherever     they    could    have    their    way, 


1570.]  The  Reign  of  Elizabeth.  61 

showed  a  desperate  and  uncompromising  determination 
to  trample  out  the  Reformers  with  fire  and  sword  ; 
and  although  France  and  Spain  were  still  political  an- 
tagonists and  neutralized  each  other's  influence  by  their 
mutual  jealousies,  it  must  have  seemed  but  too  likely, 
to  the  anxious  minds  of  English  statesmen,  that  the 
Pope  would  find  means  at  last  to  put  an  end  to  differ- 
ences which  so  far  had  been  their  only  protection. 

When  the  excommunication  appeared,  Elizabeth 
was  assured  that  it  had  been  issued  with  the  sanction 
of  one  or  both  of  the  Great  Powers.  That  the  Pope 
would  have  taken  so  considerable  a  step  without  con- 
sulting them  appeared  extremely  improbable ;  and 
taken  in  connexion  with  La  Mothe's  language,  it 
seemed  to  tell  her  that  her  time  at  last  was  come. 
The  Channel  fleet  was  instantly  reinforced :  Lord 
Clmton  took  the  command  in  person,  with  orders  to 
sink  at  once  and  without  question  any  French  trans- 
ports that  he  might  find  carrying  troops  to  Scotland. 
The  country  could  on  the  whole  be  relied  on  if  at- 
tacked only  by  France  ;  but  the  questions  of  internal 
policy,  and  of  the  Queen  of  Scots  especially,  became 
more  deeply  complicated.  The  uncertainties  revived. 
The  advocates  of  the  Queen  of  Scots'  restoration  Avere 
able  to  insist  upon  their  arguments  with  increased 
plausibility,  and  a  great  meeting  of  the  Privy  Co-uncil 
was  called  at  their  instance  to  consider  the  situation. 

From  the  moment  that  Lennox  had  been  sent  to 
Berwick,  Arundel  had  never  ceased  to  remonstrate. 
Angry  words  had  been  exchanged  between  him  and 
Cecil  in  the  Queen's  presence.  Arundel  had  \)wn 
speaking  as  usual  in  favour  of  the  Bishop  of  Ross  and 
the  treaty,  wlien  Cecil  burst  out,  that  the  Queen  had 
no  friends  but  the  Protestants,  and  if  she  yielded  she 
would  lose  them  all. 


62  History  of  England.  [Ch.  xix. 

Elizabeth  hated  the  naked  truth.  She  said  that 
Cecil's  passion  made  him  bhnd :  she  felt  herself  en- 
tangled in  a  net  which  threatened  to  strangle  her. 
She  declared  that  she  would  do  what  the  French 
King  desired,  and  shake  herself  clear,  let  Cecil  and 
"his  brothers  in  Christ"  say  what  they  pleased. ^ 

Bacon,  who  was  as  anxious  as  Cecil  to  prevent  the 
Scotch  question  from  being  rediscussed  till  Drury  had 
finished  his  work,  attempted  to  leave  London  to  pre- 
vent the  Council  from  meeting ;  but  Arundel  caught 
him  before  he  could  escape,  and  told  him  that  the 
Queen  required  his  presence  and  advice.  Bacon, 
wdiose  temper  was  hasty,  answered  shortly,  that  it  was 
of  no  use  to  advise  the  Queen ;  she  changed  her  mind 
so  often  that  counsel  was  but  wasted  on  her.  She 
would  not  listen  to  him,  and  as  it  seemed  that  she  was 
bent  upon  her  destruction,  she  must  go  her  own  way. 

If  Bacon  was  absent  the  discussion  might  be  post- 
poned, and  Mary  Stuart's  friends  in  Scotland  would  be 
destroyed  in  the  meantime.  Arundel  insisted  that  the 
Lord  Keeper  should  return  with  him.  The  realm  was 
in  danger,  he  said,  and  no  good  subject  at  such  a  time 
could  desert  his  sovereign. 

Bacon  sullenly  complied.  The  Privy  Council  assem- 
bled, and  the  public  policy  of  England  was  dis- 
cussed in  Elizabeth's  presence.  Bedford  was 
ill ;  Clinton  was  with  the  fleet ;  of  the  rest  every  one, 
with  the  sole  exception  of  Cecil  and  the  Lord  Keeper, 

1  "  Quoiqu'il  y  ait  Maistre  Secretaire,-  diet  elle,  je  veulx  sortir  hors  de 
ceste  affaire,  et  entendre  a  ce  que  le  Roy  me  mande,  et  ne  m'en  airester 
plus  a  vous  aultres  fr^res  en  Christ."  The  authority  for  the  scene  was 
Leicester,  who  was  present,  and  reported  it  to  La  Mothe.  Leicester,  who 
had  more  faces  than  Proteus,  is  in  general  not  much  to  be  depended  on. 
La  Mothe,  however,  believed  that  he  was  speaking  the  truth,  and  the 
phrase  "  Brothers  in  Christ  "  is  highly  characteristic  of  Elizabeth.  —  In- 
structions au  Sieur  de  Vassal:  Depeches,  Vol.  IIL  p.  181. 


1570.J  The  Reign  of  Elizaheth.  63 

recommended  the  recall  of  Druiy,  the  immediate  re- 
sumption of  the  negotiations,  and  the  release  of  the 
Queen  of  Scots  at  the  earliest  possible  moment :  some, 
like  Arundel,  were  deliberately  treacherous,  some 
were  frightened,  some  sincerely  believed  that  the 
course  which  they  advised  would  be  the  best  both  for 
their  mistress  and  for  England.  All  agreed,  however, 
in  one  conclusion,  and  Leicester,  as  if  taking  upon 
himself  to  speak  for  the  Queen,  said  that  violent  meas- 
ures were  found  too  dangerous  to  be  ventured  further ; 
her  jNIajest}''  intended  to  take  the  opinion  of  the  more 
moderate  of  her  councillors,  to  come  to  an  understand- 
ing wuth  France,  and  replace  the  Queen  of  Scots  on 
her  throne. 

It  was  no  time  for  euphuisms  or  delicate  phrases. 
The  Lord  Keeper  had  been  forced  to  attend.  The 
Queen  desired  his  opinion,  and  she  should  have  it. 
"  Her  Majesty,"  he  said,  "  was  deceived  and  trifled 
with.  The  men  whose  advice  she  was  preparing  to 
follow  were  the  secret  servants  of  the  Queen  of  Scots. 
The  French  Ambassador  threatened  war.  The  King 
his  master  had  work  enough  on  hand  at  home  and 
would  not  meddle  with  Enirland.  The  Ambassador 
spoke  for  the  Cardinal  of  Lorraine,  and  not  for  the 
King. 

"  After  what  you  have  done  and  are  doing  in  Scot- 
land," he  continued,  "you  cannot  now  turn  back: 
courage  alone  is  safety,  courage  and  persistence.  Go 
on  as  vou  have  begun,  and  there  will  be  soon  no 
Queen's  party,  no  French  party,  no  Catholic  party  to 
troulile  that  country  more.  English  influence  will  be 
supreme  there,  and  religion,  the  Protestant  religion, 
will  be  established  beyond  reach  of  harm  from  end  to 
end  of  Britain.     No  advice  but  this  will  be  given  to 


64  History  of  England.  [Ch.  xix. 

our  sovereign  by  any  loyal  Englisliman.  This  course 
alone  befits  the  greatness  of  her  crown  ;  and  in  this 
quarrel  I  will  live  or  die.  It  is  not  for  the  Majesty  of 
England  to  be  frightened  by  the  threats  of  an  ambas- 
sador. How  think  you  her  father  King  Henry  would 
have  dealt  with  such  miserable  counsels  ?  You,  my 
Lord,"  he  went  on,  turning  to  Leicester,  "  you  pre- 
tend to  be  loyal  to  your  mistress,  and  you  are  in 
league  with  the  worst  of  her  enemies.  If  France 
lands  a  force  in  England  to  try  to  take  the  Queen  of 
Scots  from  us,  with  her  Majesty's  permission,  I  would 
strike  her  head  from  her  shoulders  with  my  own 
hands." 

"  In  what  I  said,"  replied  Leicester,  "  I  spoke  ac- 
cording to  my  honour  and  conscience.  I  will  main- 
tain my  opinion  if  necessary  with  my  life,  against  all 
who  impugn  it.  It  is  my  duty  as  a  councillor  to  de- 
clare Avhat  I  truly  think.  Her  Majesty  may  do  as  she 
will,  I  hold  to  my  own  convictions,  and  I  speak  for 
others  besides  myself." 

Elizabeth  during  this  altercation  looked  angrily  from 
one  speaker  to  the  other.  Neither  tlie  favourite  nor 
the  Lord  Keeper  had  pleased  her.  But.  the  Lord 
Keeper  had  offended  her  most :  "  his  counsels,"  she 
said,  "  were  like  himself,  rash  and  dangerous ;  "  she 
would  not  have  her  cousin's  life  touched  for  a  second 
realm ;  she  would  rather  lose  her  own.  She  forbade 
him  at  his  peril  ever  more  to  speak  such  words  to  her. 

In  the  pause  which  followed,  Arundel  struck  in 
with  affected  moderation. 

"They  were  met,"  he  said,  "to  consider  certain 
dangers  which  thi-eatened  the  realm,  and  neither  from 
anger  nor  passion,  nor  from  any  love  or  hatred  which 
they  might  feel  for  the  Queen  of  Scots,  should  they 


1570.]  Tlie  Reign  of  Elizabeth.  65 

mislead  their  mistress  at  such  a  crisis ;  least  of  all 
should  they  quarrel  among  themselves,  for  the  situa- 
tion demanded  all  the  prudence  and  discretion  which 
they  possessed.  He  thought  for  himself  that  to  sup- 
port by  force  the  party  in  Scotland,  who  for  whatever 
cause  were  in  arms  against  their  sovereign,  was 
neither  wise,  just,  nor  advantageous.  The  expense 
would  be  enormous,  the  difficulties  far  more  considera- 
ble than  those  who  recommended  that  course  appeared 
to  imagine.  It  would  offend  a  powerful  party  in  Eng- 
land whom  it  was  unsafe  to  irritate,  and  would  lead  in 
the  end  to  a  war  with  the  Continental  Powers,  which 
England  was  in  no  condition  to  sustain.  The  French 
Ambassador  could  not  have  spoken  so  peremptorily 
without  commission,  and  to  withdraw  from  any  enter- 
prise to  preserve  the  peace  of  the  world  was  neither 
dishonourable  nor  dangerous.  Henry  VIII.  might 
possibly  have  persevered,  but  under  Henry  VIII. 
England  was  loyal  and  united,  and  even  Henry  him- 
self did  not  venture  upon  a  war  with  France  Avithout 
the  Emperor  for  an  ally.  Now  the  whole  situation 
was  altered.  The  Cathohc  King  was  estranged.  The 
English  people  were  discontented  and  divided.  Let 
her  Majesty  secure  peace  at  home,  let  her  deserve 
the  friendship  and  confidence  of  other  princes,  and  she 
would  do  what  was  right  and  just  in  the  sight  of  God 
and  man."  ^ 

But  for  the  revelations  in  the  despatches  of  Don 
Guerau,  but  for  the  evidence  that  he  had  been  for 
years  conspiring  for  a  religious  revolution  and  EhV 
abeth's   overthrow.  Lord  Arundel   might  have    been 

1  This  singular  discussion  is  described  by  La  Mothe.  —  Depeches,  Vol. 
III.  p.  181.  It  wa.s  perhaps  protracted  through  several  sessions,  and  did  not 
all  take  place  on  the  same  da}'. 

VOL.  X.  5 


66  History  of  England.  [Ch.  xix. 

credited  with  a  mistaken  but  still  honest  anxiety  to  ex- 
tricate his  mistress  from  her  embarrassments.  Eliza- 
beth herself  construed  his  words  favourably.  When 
the  next  morning  Leicester  pressed  her  to  give  an 
audience  to  the  Bishop  of  Ross,  she  answered  sharply 
that  the  Queen  of  Scots  seemed  very  near  his  heart, 
but  she  sent  an  order  to  Scotland  for  the  recall  of  the 
army,  which  encountered  Drury  on  his  return  to  Edin- 
burgh. Morton  would  gladly  have  detained  him,  at 
least  till  Grange  could  be  compelled  or  persuaded  to 
surrender  the  castle  ;  but  the  Queen's  commands  were 
peremptory  ;  he  made  the  necessary  excuses  and  fell 
back  at  once  to  Berwick. 

It  might  have  been  thought,  as  Cecil  hoped  and 
Bacon  said,  that  Elizabeth,  after  inflicting  punishment 
so  tremendous  on  Mary  Stuart's  friends,  would  not 
have  deceived  herself  with  the  expectation  that  she 
could  recover  their  confidence  or  induce  them  any 
more  to  look  upon  her  as  a  friend.  Had  her  fluctua- 
tions been  assumed  to  cover  a  purpose  which  in  her 
heart  she  had  definitely  formed  ;  had  she  been  hypo- 
critical and  deceitful,  and  not  weak  and  uncertain,  such 
no  doubt  would  have  been  the  effect.  She  would  have 
seen  that  she  had  gone  too  far  to  retreat,  she  would 
have  avowed  her  real  purpose  and  gone  through  with 
it.  But  Elizabeth  was  very  different  from  all  this. 
The  principles  which  divided  her  Council  divided  her- 
self from  herself.  She  had  no  sooner  committed  her- 
self to  one  course  of  action  than  the  merits  of  another 
became  doubly  obvious  to  her,  while  it  gratified  her 
sense  of  power  to  strike  and  to  smile,  to  be  alternately 
the  lightning  and  the  sunshine. 

She  perhaps  flattered  herself  that  the  Scots,  after 
suffering   from  the    invasion,  would  come  to  her  feet 


1570.]  The  Reign  of  Elizabeth.  67 

like  children  beaten  into  submission  ;  a  letter  from 
Maitland  to  Sussex  indicated  that  they  were  as  yet  far 
from  any  such  condition. 

"  You  tell  me,"  Maitland  wrote,  "  that  her  Majesty's 
forces  are  revoked.     I  am  glad  thereof  more 

•  1      .        .  June. 

than  I  was  at  their  coming,  and  it  is  not 
amiss  for  their  ease  to  have  a  breathing  time  and  some 
rest  between  one  exploit  and  another.  This  is  the 
third  journey  they  have  made  in  Scotland  since  your 
Lordship  came  to  the  Borders,  and  have  been  so  occu- 
pied in  every  one  of  them,  that  it  might  well  be  said, 
if  the  amity  and  good  intelligence  between  the  realms 
would  permit  that  phrase  of  language,  to  term  the 
Englishmen  as  our  forefathers  were  wont  to  do  —  they 
have  reasonably  well  acquit  themselves  of  the  duty  of 
old  enemies,  and  have  burnt  and  spoiled  as  much 
ground  within  Scotland  as  any  army  of  England  did 
in  one  year,  these  hundred  years  by-past,  which  may 
suffice  for  a  two  months'  work,  although  you  do  no 
more.  The  rude  people  in  Scotland  will  sometimes 
speak  rashly  after  their  fashion,  but  I  am  content  to 
follow  the  phrase  of  your  language  as  better  acquainted 
with  the  same,  and  say  that  you  have  not  been  idle  in 
the  pursuit  of  her  Majesty's  rebels."  ^ 

The  order  of  the  day,  however,  was  once  more  to  be 
conciliation.  The  Bishop  of  Ross,  after  a  short  delay, 
was  admitted  to  an  audience.  He  swore  that  he  had 
known  nothing  of  the  rebellion,  and  although  Elizabeth 
possessed  the  clearest  evidence  to  the  contrary,  she 
affected  to  believe  him.  He  was  sent  down  to  Chats- 
worth,  to  which  his  mistress  had  been  removed,  to  talk 
over  the  intended  arrangements,  and  the  Queen,  for 
the  further   guidance  of  Lord    Sussex,  told    him  that 

1  Maitland  to  Sussex,  June  2:  MSS.  Scotland. 


68  History  of  England.  [Ch.  xix. 

"  although  in  all  worldly  things  there  were  some  un- 
certainties," she  had  made  up  her  mind  to  the  course 
which  promised  least  disadvantage.  The  Queen  of 
Scots  would  have  been  long  since  restored  "  but  for 
such  impediments  as  from  time  to  time  had  been  minis- 
tered by  herself."  There  was  now  a  better  prospect 
of  a  good  conclusion.  Both  parties  in  Scotland  must 
lay  down  their  arms.  She  would  take  care  of  the 
interests  of  the  Lords  who  had  supported  the  King, 
and  Sussex  must  learn  from  them  what  conditions  they 
would  consider  satisfactory.  In  fact  they  had  better 
send  commissioners  with  full  powers  to  London.  Dis- 
cretion should  be  used  in  opening  the  matter  to  them  ; 
"  discomfort  "  might  otherwise  make  them  desperate. 

As  to  the  troops  at  Berwick,  the  Exchequer  would 
no  longer  bear  the  expense  of  their  maintenance.  To 
disband  them  publicly  might  be  too  patent  a  confession 
of  weakness,  and  Sussex  was  ordered  therefore  to  get 
rid  of  them  "  in  some  secret  and  indirect  sort."  ^ 

The  conspii'ators  in  London,  meanwhile,  were  in 
high  spii'its  at  their  victory  over  Cecil  and  Bacon,  and 
in  full  assurance  of  success.  The  Queen  of  Scots 
wrote  letters  of  passionate  gratitude  to  Elizabeth, 
promising  faithfully  to  be  all  that  she  could  wish.^ 
The  Bishop  of  Ross,  before  going  to  her,  talked  over 
the  situation  with  Don  Guerau.  Don  Guerau  recom- 
mended that  to  mislead  Ehzabeth  she  should  still  seem 
to  comply  with  every  demand  which  might  be  made 
upon  her,  while  the  Catholics  should  hold  themselves 
readv  for  a  universal  insurrection  the  instant  that  she 
was  free.  La  Mothe  had  served  the  Bishop's  turn 
upon  the  Council ;  it  seems  that  he  had  more  trust  in 

1  Elizabeth  to  Sussex,  May  31 :  MSS.  Scotland. 

2  Letters  of  Mary  Stuart,  June  and  July,  1570:  Labanoflf,  Vol.  HI. 


1570.]  The  Reign  of  Elizabeth.  69 

Spain  for  assistance  in  the  field.  The  fear  was  that 
France  might  get  the  start  and  secure  Mary  Stuart  for 
Anjou.i  The  papal  Nuncio  at  Paris  was  strongly  in 
favour  of  the  match,  and  the  Pope  was  ready  to  grant 
the  necessary  dispensation.^  It  was  thought  that  a 
possibility  so  much  dreaded  would  rouse  Alva  from 
his  inaction.  Philip's  new  Queen  ^  was  on  her  way 
through  the  Netherlands  to  Madrid.  Her  voyage  and 
the  insecurity  of  the  seas  had  required  the  assembly  of 
a  powerful  escort,  and  the  fleet  which  was  floating  on 
the  Scheldt  could  be  directed  to  a  second  purpose  if  an 
opportunity  presented  itself  for  a  sudden  landing  at  the 
mouth  of  the  Thames.  If  by  any  means  the  release 
of  the  Queen  of  Scots  could  be  effected,  fifteen  or 
twenty  thousand  men  could  be  thrown  aci'oss,  before 
Elizabeth  could  have  notice  of  her  danger.  The  Catho- 
lics would  immediately  rise,  Mary  Stuart  would  be  pro- 
claimed, France  paralysed,  the  Queen  taken  prisoner, 
and  Cecil  and  his  party  destroyed.  The  country  would 
be  conquered  without  a  struggle,  the  pirate  fleets  anni- 
hilated, and,  among  other  happy  issues,  the  revolution 
that  overthrew  Elizabeth  would  end  the  rebellion  in 
the  Low  Countries.^  By  disbanding  her  army  she 
was  preparing  her  neck  for  the  stroke. 

1  "  It  is  here  doubted  that  the  Queen  of  Scots  being  released  shall  marry 
M.  de  Anjou,  and  thereby  possess  him  of  the  present  estate  of  Scotland, 
and  of  the  remainder  of  the  Crown  of  England.  It  is  said  that  the  late  mes- 
senger from  the  Pope  which  brought  the  sword  and  cap  for  ]Monsieur,  doth 
most  earnestly  solicit  this  cause.  The  Cardinal  of  Lorraine  said  at  the 
council  board,  that  the  peace  once  made  here,  it  should  be  for  the  reputa- 
tion of  this  Crown  to  declare  an  oiicn  war  against  England."  —  Norris  to 
Cecil,  June  15;  Norris  to  Elizabeth,  .June  20:   MSS.  France. 

2  The  relationship  between  Mary  Stuart  and  the  Due  d'Anjou  was  pre- 
cisel}'  the  same  as  that  between  Henry  VIII.  and  his  brother's  widow. 

8  Anne  of  Au'-tria,  daughter  of  Maximilian. 

■*  "  En  el  mismo  tiempo  con  quinze  6  viente  mill  infantes  y  la  caliallcria 
que  pareciese  convenientc  entrar  por  esta  Isla,  haciendo  levantar  todos  loa 


70  Eistory  of  England.  [Ch.  xix 

Thus  it  was  agreed  between  the  Bishop  and  Don 
Guerau  that  no  concessions  however  extravagant  should 
be  refused.  When  the  Queen  of  Scots'  foot  was  on  her 
own  soil  they  would  crumble  to  pieces  of  themselves. 

After  parting  from  the  Ambassador,  the  Bishop 
ventured  to  the  lodgings  of  the  young  Lord  South- 
ampton, one  of  the  intended  leaders  of  the  insurrec- 
tion, for  with  him  too  there  was  much  to  arrange  and 
explain.  It  happened,  however,  that  Southampton's 
house  was  one  of  those  on  which  Cecil  was  keeping  a 
watch.  This  nobleman  had  been  notoriously  favour- 
able to  the  enterprise  of  the  Northern  Earls,  and  in 
fact  he  had  been  on  the  edge  of  declarino;  for  them. 
After  his  defeat  in  the  Council,  Cecil  had  redoubled 
his  private  vigilance,  and  the  Bishop  of  Ross  was  seen 
stealing  at  midnifrht  from  the  door.  He  had  started 
by  daybreak  for  Chatsworth ;  the  information  came  too 
late  for  his  detention ;  but  the  Queen's  suspicions  were 
violently  reawakened,  if  indeed  they  had  ever  really 
slept.  The  preparations  in  the  Scheldt  had  alarmed 
her  also  ;  and  almost  at  the  same  moment  came  the 
unwelcome  news  that  Lord  Morlej^,  Lord  Derby's  son- 
in-law,  whose  loyalty  had  been  hitherto  unquestioned, 
had  withdrawn  without  leave  from  England,  and  had 
gone  to  Brussels  to  the  Duke  of  Alva.  A  letter  which 
he  wrote  to  the  Queen  when  he  was  beyond  her  reach 

Catolicos,  los  quales,  si  se  aseguran  de  la  persona  de  la  Reyna,  tendrian  la 
mayor  parte  de  la  empresa  acabada,  y  ami  asegurarse  luego  de  Cecil  y  Leices- 
ter y  Bedford  seria  muy  conveniente,  y  no  menos  el  tomar  la  armada  en 
Rochester.  Todo  lo  qual  es  harto  facil,  y  no  falta  sino  persona  principal 
para  executar,  y  en  todo  pretender  el  nombre  de  la  Eeyiia  de  Escocia  por 
hallar  menos  contradiction  en  el  i-eyno,  y  no  dar  sospecha  a  los  vezinos. 
Yo  tengo  por  cierto  que  sino  es  por  esta  via  jamas  el  reyno  de  Inglaterra 
eieudo  Protestante  dexara  de  inquietar  las  cosas  de  Flandes.  A  todo  ello 
viene  muy  a  proposito  la  passada  de  la  Magd  de  la  Eeyna  X™  Sefiora."  — 
Descifrada  de  G.  de  Espes  a  su  Magd  Londres,  12  de  Junio,  1570 :  MS.  Si- 
mancas. 


1570.]  The  Eeign  of  Elizabeth.  71 

did  not  tend  to  reassure  her.  Lord  Morley  accused 
Cecil  and  Bacon  of  ruining  the  country,  persecuting 
the  nobihty,  and  introducing  into  England  the  wildest 
and  worst  of  the  revolutionary  passions  of  the  Conti- 
nent. He  said  that  the  ancient  order,  the  honourable 
traditions  of  the  realm,  were  set  at  nought  by  them. 
They  had  maintained  "  that  the  opinions  of  the  Peers 
were  of  no  importance,"  "  that  her  Highness  and  the 
Commons  might  make  laws  without  the  Nobles." 
"  How  a  Prince  could  stand  without  a  body  of  nobil- 
ity, he  recommended  her  Highness  to  consider  ; "  and 
he  trusted  that  a  time  would  come  when  "  she  would 
discover  their  practices  and  weigh  them  and  others  as 
they  had  deserved."  ^ 

It  was  not  the  way  to  work  upon  Elizabeth.  South- 
ampton Avas  at  once  arrested,  and  also  Sir  Thomas 
Cornwallis,  Queen  Mary's  old  minister.  Elizabeth 
sent  for  La  Mothe,  and  began  moodily  to  talk  to  him 
of  the  Bull,  and  of  the  name  by  which  the  Pope  had 
described  her  as  "  the  servant  of  iniquity."  The 
world  looked  so  wild,  she  said,  that  she  thought  the 
last  day  must  be  near.  With  one  of  her  odd  unearthly 
laughs  she  told  him  of  Morley's  flight,  and  how  when 
he  landed  at  Dunkirk  he  had  described  himself  as  one 
of  the  greatest  Lords  in  England.  She  ran  over  the 
pretty  doings  of  tlie  Queen  of  Scots.  She  said  she 
had  promised  the  French  King  to  send  her  back,  and 
if  she  was  let  alone  she  meant  to  do  it,  but  if  France 
sent  one  man  to  ScotUmd  she  would  hold  herself  ac- 
quitted of  her  engagement ;  she  would  send  her  army 
back  to  Edinburgli  ;  Mary  Stuart  should  remain  pris- 
oner for  her  life,  and  if  war  came  it  must  come.^ 

1  Lord  Morley  to  Elizabeth  from  Bruges,  June  8:  MSS.  Domestic. 

2  DepechcB,  June  16,  June  19,  June  21,  "Vol.  III. 


72  History  of  England.  [Ch.  xix. 

Fresh  orders  went  down  to  Sussex.  He  had  scarcely 
digested  the  letter  of  the  31st  of  May  when  another 
followed  it  to  say  that  new  practices  had  been  discov- 
ered, and  that  the  Queen  intended  to  move  with 
greater  caution.  The  King's  Lords,  who  had  been  but 
just  informed  that  they  were  to  prepare  to  receive 
back  Mary  Stuart,  "  were  now  to  be  told  that  in  no 
wise  they  should  shrink  or  yield;  and  whatever  the 
Queen  of  Scots  or  her  friends  might  say  to  the  con- 
trary, they  might  assure  themselves  of  the  support  of 
England."  i 

Rarely  have  any  set  of  public  men  been  in  a  more 
deplorable  situation  than  these  unlucky  Lords.  Cha- 
telherault  had  proclaimed  the  Queen.  Elizabeth  had 
withdrawn  the  indirect  sanction  which  she  had  given 
to  the  election  of  Lennox  in  Murray's  place,  and  they 
had  neither  Regent  nor  recognised  authority  among 
them.  She  had  fed  them  with  doses  of  alternate 
warmth  and  coldness,  and  her  invasions  and  burnings 
had  done  them  more  harm  than  good,  for  she  had 
tempted  them  to  join  in  the  demolition  of  Hamilton 
Castle,  and  then  by  her  desertion  had  exposed  them  to 
be  destroyed  by  their  adversaries.  The  Abbot  of 
Dumfermline  had  found  her  impatient  for  the  treaty, 
and  had  come  back  with  an  intimation  that  they  must 
prepare  for  the  return  of  the  Queen.  Lennox,  An- 
gus, Glencairn,  Mar,  Morton,  the  Master  of  Graham, 
Lindsay,  Ruthven,  Borthwick,  Ochiltree,  all  the  Lords 
remaining  on  the  side  of  the  little  King,  had  assembled 
at  Stirling  to  receive  the  answer  to  their  petition,  and 
when  it  came  in  such  a  form  "  their  lone:  silence  mani- 
fested  the  heaviness  of  their  hearts." 

When  Sussex  received  the  Queen's  second  letter  he 
1  The  Queen  to  Sussex,  June  6 :  MUS.  Scotland. 


1570.]  TJie  Reign  of  Elizabeth.  73 

sent  Randolph  on  to  them,  and  Randolph  was  able  in 
some  degree  to  reassure  them  ;  but  they  told  him  dis- 
tinctly that  if  they  were  to  hold  together  they  must 
and  would  appoint  a  Regent.  They  sent  again  to 
Elizabeth  to  say  that  "  it  was  impossible  for  them  to 
continue  as  they. were;"  and  Sussex,  who  trusted 
that  his  mistress  had  recovered  her  senses,  added 
of  himself  that  the  idea  of  sending  back  the  Queen 
had  better  be  abandoned  once  and  forever.  "  If 
her  Majesty  would  be  pleased  to  command  him,  he 
would  himself  take  the  castles  of  Edinburgh  and 
Dumbarton  in  twenty  daj-s,  and  either  bring  all 
Scotland  to  the  King's  obedience  in  like  time  after, 
or   leave    the    Queen's   fiiends    not   a     castle    stand- 

ing."  ' 

Elizabeth,  however,  was  like  a  jaded  horse,  stung  by 
the  lash  into  momentary  action,  but  lapsing  speedily 
into  lagging  and  weary  motion.  She  brooded  over  the 
Pope's  excommunication.  She  harassed  herself  with 
the  belief  that  she  was  to  be  the  object  of  a  European 
crusade.  The  Duke  of  Norfolk  plied  her  from  the 
Tower  with  letters  which  were  piteously  submissive. 
His  physician  wrote  that  his  health  was  breaking 
under  his  confinement,  and  that  if  he  remained  in 
the  Tower  he  would  die.^  The  Bishop  of  Ross  re- 
ported from  Chats  worth  that  his  mistress  was  so  anx- 
ious to  please  the  Queen  that  Cecil  might  dictate  his 
conditions.  Title,  religion,  alliances  —  she  would  make 
no  difficulties  about  any  of  them.  "  After  so  many 
storms  her  wish  was  to  live  in  quietness  ;  "  and  for  his 
own  part,  the  Bishop  would  count  himself  most  hapjiy 

1  Sussex  to  Cecil,  June  19:   MSS.  Scotland. 

2  Norfolk   to   the   Queen,   June   18:  Keport  of  the  Duke   of  Norfolk's 
health,  June  —  ;  Norfolk  to  Cecil,  July  4:  MSS.  Domesiic. 


74  History  of  England.  [Ch.  xix. 

if  he  could  unite  their  Majesties  in  heart,  mind,  and 
bonds  indissoluble.^ 

Elizabeth  was  on  her  guard  against  the  Bishop,  and 

the  smooth  words  would  have  produced  no  effect  had 

the    Catholics   retained   their   ascendancy  in 

July.  ,  1  .        . 

France.  But  just  at  this  time  an  opportune 
victory  of  the  Huguenots  in  Poitou  recovered  to  them 
the  strength  and  prestige  which  they  had  lost  at  Mon- 
coutour,  changed  the  policy  of  the  French  Court,  and 
brought  about  another  shortlived  reconciliation  be- 
tween  the  Queen  Mother  and  the  Princes  of  the 
League.  Disinclined  to  encounter  further  the  chances 
of  a  war  which  no  battles  seemed  to  end,  the  Court 
determined  to  give  way.  The  Duke  of  Guise,  who 
had  aspired  to  the  hand  of  the  Princess  Margaret,  was 
driven  in  disgrace  from  the  Court.  The  war  spirit 
w^s  suddenly  extinguished,  and  with  it  the  disposition 
to|  quarrel  with  England  in  the  interests  of  tlie  Cath- 
olib  religion.  In  vain  the  despairing  Nuncio  ])reached 
upon  the  impiety  of  making  peace  with  heretics.  In 
vain  Don  Francis  de  Alava  promised  helj)  from  Spain, 
and  the  clergy  of  Paris  offered  to  pay  the  expenses  of 
the  army  for  eight  months  if  the  King  would  perse- 
vere. He  said  he  would  have  no  more  war  with  his 
subjects,  and  Protestants  and  Catholics  sliould  cut  each 
others'  throats  no  longer.^ 

The  change  relieved  Elizabeth  from  the  fears  of  a 
crusade,  and  while  it  increased  the  chances  of  a  quar- 
rel between  France  and  Spain,  it  enabled  her  to  hope 
that  between  France  and  herself  there  might  now  be 


in 


a  cordial  alliance.     She  would  thus  be  secure  against 


&- 


1  The  Bishop  of  Ross  to  Cecil,  June  26:   Outm  MSS.,   Callg.  C.  II.  15. 
Cf.  MSS.  Mary  Queen  of  Scols,  June  2G,  June  29,  Bolls  House. 

2  Norris  to  Elizabeth,  July  23:  MSS.  France. 


1570.]  The  Reign  of  Elizaheth.  75 

invasion,  and  her  own  subjects  would  lose  the  tempta- 
tion to  mutiny.  The  danger  from  the  release  of  the 
Queen  of  Scots  would  be  diminished  or  reduced  to 
nothing,  if  the  direction  of  French  policy  was  in  the 
hands  of  the  enemies  of  the  Guises  ;  and  while  Charles 
and  Catherine  still  continued  to  intercede  for  her,  the 
guarantees  which  they  were  ready  to  give  that  she 
should  not  abuse  her  freedom  could  now  be  depended 
upon. 

Thus  again  the  wind  swung;  round.  Cornwallis  and 
Southampton  were  set  at  liberty.  A  tripartite  treaty 
was  proposed  between  France,  England,  and  Scotland, 
a  condition  of  which  was  to  be  the  Queen  of  Scots' 
restoration  ;  and  Elizabeth  said  that  she  would  be  satis- 
fied with  sufficient  securities  for  her  own  title,  the  sur- 
render of  the  fuo;itive  Earls,  and  an  undertakino-  on 
the  part  of  ]Mary  Stuart  that  she  would  not  interfere 
with  the  religion  established  in  Scotland,  She  should 
not  be  pressed  to  conform  herself  to  a  religion  M'hich 
she  did  not  believe.^ 

A  third  time  the  unhappy  Sussex  was  disturbed  with 
a  chancre  of  orders.  If  the  Lords  at  Stirlino-  chose  to 
elect  a  Regent,  Elizabeth  said  that  she  Avould  not  inter- 
fere with  them.  She  could  not  act  in  the  matter  her- 
self, but  if  they  were  determined  and  desired  her 
opinion,  the  Earl  of  Lennox  she  still  thought  was  the 
fittest  person  for  the  place.  But  Regent  or  no  Regent, 
the  Queen  of  Scots  professed  a  willingness  to  be  guided 
entirely  by  her  advice,  and  she  could  not  in  honour 
refuse  to  hear  what  her  friends  or  herself  would  ])ro- 
pose.  The  Queen  of  Scots  was  about  to  send  Lord 
Livhigston  to  treat  with  them,  and  Elizabeth  trusted 

1  Depeches,  July  5. 


76  HUtory  of  England.  [Ch.  ^;ix. 

that  they  would  not  refuse  to  receive  him  or  weaken 
their  cause  bj  needless  alarm  or  panic. ^ 

So  many  alterations,  trying  as  they  were  to  those 
immediately  about  the  Court,  were  maddening  to  the 
unfortunate  officers  at  remote  stations  on  the  Borders 
or  abroad,  on  whom  was  thrown  the  responsibility  of 
action.  It  mi^ht  well  seem  that  Maitland  after  all 
best  understood  the  Queen  of  England's  character. 
At  this  last  revolution  a  shout  of  triumph  shot  through 
Mary  Stuart's  party,  and  a  cry  as  despairing  from  the 
Lords.  Buccleuch  and  Fernihurst,  unable  to  restrain 
their  delight,  dashed  into  Northumberland,  and  carried 
off  "  a  great  booty  of  cattle,"  which  they  divided  in 
triumph  among  the  ruins  of  Jedburgh  ;  and  Sussex,  in 
reporting  this  affair,  told  his  mistress  with  some  irony, 
that  it  was  rather  late,  after  all  that  she  had  made  him 
do,  to  be  talking  of  the  restoration.^  Chatelherault 
sent  to  France  and  Spain  to  say  that  now  "  with  small 
support  he  would  requite  the  Queen  of  England  for 
her  deceitful  doings ;  "  ^  while  Randolph  from  the 
other  side  had  to  write  "  that  the  poor  King  would 
stand  up  naked  for  all  that  would  be  left  to  him.  The 
Lords  would  seek  their  own  at  the  Scotch  Queen's 
hands.  They  had  no  confidence  in  the  Queen  of  Eng- 
land, that  had  so  often  changed  her  course,  and,  though 
sore  against  their  wills,  they  would  now  live  with  mur- 
derers and  traitors  to  obey  her  whom  neither  by  law, 
duty,  nor  conscience  they  held  themselves  bound  to 
obey."  4 

They  did  indeed  at  last  make  Lennox  Regent,  but 

1  Elizabeth  to  Sussex,  June  30,  July  2:  MSS.  Scotland. 

2  Sussex  to  Elizabeth,  July  8:  MSS.  Border. 

8  Commission  from   the  Duke   of  Chatelherault,   July  — ,  1570 :   MSS. 
Scotland. 
4  Randolph  to  Hunsdon  and  Sussex,  July  5 :  MS.  Ibid. 


1570.]  The  Reign  of  Elizabeili.  77 

this  in  itself,  unless  followed  up  by  other  measures, 
would  do  little  to  hold  the  party  together.  Each  of 
the  Lords  prepared  to  make  his  own  terms  for  himself, 
and  whatever  happened,  Ehzabeth  in  Randolph's  opin- 
ion would  not  have  "  a  friend  left  in  Scotland  to  serve 
her  turn."  ^ 

The  ministers  of  the  Kirk  and  their  congregations 
alone  showed  heart  or  courafje.  The  General  Assem- 
bly,  forsaken  as  they  were,  met  at  Edinburgh,  and 
passed  a  resolution  "  that  whatever  England  might 
say,  Mary  Stuart  should  be  no  Queen  of  theirs. 
Every  pulpit  in  Scotland  should  ring  with  her  enor- 
mities. If  the  Lords  and  gentlemen  interfered,  they 
should  be  excommunicate  and  held  as  rotten  mem- 
bers unworthy  of  the  society  of  Christ's  body."  ^ 

For  the  dissatisfiction  in  Scotland,  however,  Eliza- 
beth cared  but  little  while  she  felt  secure  of  France  ; 
and  even  Philip,  it  now  seemed,  unless  the  chance  of- 
fered itself  to  revolutionize  England,  might  defy  the 
Pope  and  his  excommunication,  and  try  to  bribe  over 
his  sister-in-law  to  himself  from  her  treaty  with  Charles 
and  Catherine. 

Towards  Spain  the  aggressions  of  the  privateers  had 
rather  increased  than  diminished.  Elizabeth  was  well 
aware  that  for  tlie  safety  of  the  realm  against  invasion 
she  must  chiefly  depend  upon  the  force  wdiich  she 
could  keep  in  the  Channel,  and  that  it  was  safer  as 
well  as  cheaper  to  encourage  the  voluntary  action  of 
her  subjects  than  to  rely  entirely  upon  her  own  fleet. 
In  dealing  with  French  ships  there  had  been  more  or 
less  forbearance  ;  when  the  tone  of  the  French  Gov- 
ernment was   friendly  an  intimation   was  sent  to   the 

1  Kandolph  to  Sussex,  July  8:  MSS.  Scotland. 

2  Determination  of  the  General  Assembly,  July  7:  MS.  Ibid. 


78  History  of  England.  [Ch.'  xix. 

ports  to  let  them  pass,  but  on  the  whole  little  differ- 
ence had  been  made.  The  sea-going  population  re- 
garded Papists  generally  as  their  natural  enemies  and 
their  legitimate  pre3^  Forty  or  fifty  sail  —  corsairs 
or  privateers,  according  to  the  point  of  view  from 
which  they  were  regarded  —  held  the  coast  from  Do- 
ver to  Penzance.  The  crews  were  English,  French, 
or  Flemish,  united  by  a  common  creed  and  a  common 
pursuit.  They  shifted  their  flags  as  suited  their  con- 
venience, now  sailing  under  a  commission  from  the 
Prince  of  Orange,  now  from  the  Queen  of  Navarre. 
They  had  friends  and  stores  in  every  English  harbour, 
and  since  the  publication  of  the  Bull  their  trade  had 
gone  on  more  furiously  than  ever.  Every  day  prizes 
were  brought  in  to  Plymouth,  Dover,  or  Southampton, 
the  cargoes  were  sold,  the  ships  armed  and  refitted. 

The  prisoners  taken  had  met  Avith  the  same  mercy 
which  Protestants  in  the  Netherlands  experienced  from 
Alva,  or  the  landless  wretches  in  Yorkshire  and  Dur- 
ham after  the  rebellion.  At  the  end  of  July  three 
richly  laden  traders  on  their  way  from  Flanders  to 
Spain  were  captured  outside  the  Goodwins.  They 
had  made  a  fight  for  it,  and  the  crews  one  and  all 
were  flung  into  the  sea.^ 

With  peace  in  France,  the  whole  of  these  wild  ma- 

1  "  De  presente  se  satisfacen  contener  en  este  estrecho  mas  de  cuarenta 
velas  de  armada  como  he  avisado,  en  nombre  del  de  Oranges,  y  de  la  Dii- 
quesa  de  Vendosme,  y  de  Chastillon,  que  estan  por  todos  estos  puertos  y 
entran  y  salen  a  sii  voluntad ;  y  van  en  cada  nao  miichos  Ingleses,  de 
manera  que  estos  son  amigos  de  los  piratas  publicos  euemigos  nuestros  y 
ios  favorecen,  acogen  y  regalan,  robando  nos  cada  dia  quantas  naos  pasan 
per  este  estrecho ;  y  lo  peor  es  que  luego  las  arman  y  engrossan  con  ellas 
la  armada.  Continuan  en  tomar  presas,  \  de  pocos  dias  aca  han  tornado 
tres  ureas  muy  ricas  que  iban  ;i  Espaiia  de  Flandes,  y  por  haberse  puesto  a 
defensa,  se  dice  que  han  muerto  toda  la  gente  y  traen  vendiendo  las  mer- 
caderias  por  estos  puertos."  —  Antonio  de  Guaras  a  Caj'as,  Junio  30  y  Julio 
2-3:  MS.  Simancas.     Compare  La  Mothe,  Depeckes,  July  25. 


1570.]  Tlie  Reign  of  Elizabeth.  79 

rauders  would  be  diverted  upon  Spain.  Don  Guerau 
wrote  that  Hawkins  was  fitting  out  a  squadron  to 
cruise  for  the  gold  fleet ;  and  that  the  Government 
took  no  pains  to  prevent  their  depredations.  It  is  cer- 
tain that  Philip  had  not  as  yet  deserved  at  Elizabeth's 
hands  so  inveterate  an  animosity.  For  political  rea- 
sons he  had  prevented  France  from  declaring  war 
against  her.  He  had  shown  extraordinary  forbearance 
in  enduring  injuries  to  which  a  great  Power  like  Spain 
could  scarcely  submit  without  dishonour.  He  had 
empowered  Alva  to  act  in  concert  with  the  English 
Catholics  if  he  saw  a  fair  opportunity  ;  but  the  seizure 
of  his  treasure  would  have  justified  more  immediate 
and  decisive  measures ;  and  the  discretion  which  he 
had  left  to  Alva  could  have  been  no  more  than  an  ex- 
cuse to  his  own  subjects  for  his  inaction,  for  he  knew 
Alva  to  be  as  reluctant  to  move  as  himself.  The 
Spanish  nation  was  furious.  The  feelings  of  the  proud 
and  bigoted  Castilians  found  expression  in  the  intrigues 
of  the  ambassadors  in  Eno-land,  and  in  the  successive 
entreaties  of  De  Feria,  the  Bishop  of  Aquila,  and  now 
again  Don  Guerau,  for  a  descent  from  Flanders  upon 
the  English  coast.  But  Philip  lagged  behind  his  peo- 
ple, and  Alva  knew  or  feared  that  if  he  struck  at  Eng- 
land, France  would  send  an  army  over  the  Rhine  and 
the  Netherlands  would  ao;ain  be  on  fire. 

The  danger  of  this  last  contingency  was  increased 
by  the  prospect  of  a  reconciliation  between  the  Coui't 
of  Paris  and  the  Huguenots.  If  the  leaders  of  the 
League  came  back  to  power,  the  anti-Spanish  policy 
of  Francis  and  Henry  would  revive  ;  and  in  the  event 
of  a  ruj)ture  with  France,  the  Netherlands  could  not 
possibly  be  held  unless  Elizabeth  was  at  least  neutral. 

Could  a  revolution   be  accomplished  in  England  as 


80  History  of  England.  [Ch.  xix. 

easily  as  Don  Guerau  imagined,  then  indeed  his  diffi- 
culties would  have  disappeared ;  but  Philip  was  less 
sanguine  than  his  ambassador.  With  the  first  hint 
that  peace  in  France  was  possible,  he  sent  word  to 
Elizabeth  through  Don  Francis  de  Alava,  that  if  the 
alliance  between  the  Crowns  of  England  and  Spain 
was  broken,  it  should  be  through  no  fault  of  his.^ 
When  the  Bull  of  Excommunication  was  published  he 
had  directed  Alva  generally  to  do  what  he  could  for 
the  Queen  of  Scots.^  Elizabeth  might  die  or  be  mur- 
dered, and  it  was  necessary  to  be  prepared  for  all  con- 
tingencies. But,  as  has  been  already  seen,  he  ex- 
pressed the  most  serious  displeasure  at  the  step  which 
the  Pope  had  taken.  He  still  hoped,  he  said,  that  his 
differences  with  Elizabeth  might  be  composed  in  any 
way  rather  than  by  force ;  and  the  Duke  of  Alva,  in 
explaining  the  cause  of  the  preparations  in  the  Scheldt, 
regretted  that  explanation  should  have  been  necessary 
between  countries  which  were  naturally  friends,  and 
added  that  "  since  the  Pope  had  been  stalled  he  had 
done  nothing  that  had  so  much  displeased  the  King  his 
master  as  the  late  declaration."  ^ 

It  must  not  be  supposed  that  either  the  King  or 
Alva  cared  at  all  for  Elizabeth  herself.  Yet  the 
Duke's  private  correspondence  with  Philip  shows  that 
both  of  them  were  sincerely  desirous  to  avoid  a  colli- 
sion with  her.^     They  distrusted  the  accounts  which 

1  "  Que  por  mi  parte  no  se  rompera  la  antigua  amistad  y  alian^a  que 
entre  nosotros  hay,  sino  que  se  la  conservaremos  con  toda  bueua  correspon- 
dencia  y  que  ella  debe  hacer  lo  mismo."  —  Philip  to  Alava,  May  17 :  Teulet, 
Vol.  V. 

2  "  Escribo  de  nuevo  al  Duque  de  Alva  qixe  tenga  mucha  cuenta  con  la 
reyna  de  Escocia  y  la  anime  y  la  favorezca  con  palabras  y  otras  en  quanto 
fuese  possible."  — Philip  to  Don  Guerau,  June  30:  MS.  Simancas. 

3  The  message  was  sent  through  Sir  Heniy  Norris,  Elizabeth's  Minister 
at  Paris.  —  Norris  to  the  Queen,  July  9 :  MSS.  France. 

*  Correspondance  de  Philippe  IL,  March  and  August,  1570,  torn.  II. 


1570.]  '    Tlie  Beign  of  Elizabeth.  81 

they  received  from  the  sanguine  Catholics  in  England. 
"I  am  afraid  of  Don  Guerau,"  the  Duke  wrote 
fi'anklv  to  Alava.  "  I  cannot  satisfy  myself  that  he 
understands  those  English.  I  am  doing  what  I  can 
for  the  Queen  of  Scots.  My  master  expressly  desires 
me  to  assist  her ;  but  his  wish  is  that  the  two  Queens 
should  be  reconciled,  and  that  both  should  feel  them- 
selves under  an  obligation  to  himself.  I  am  trying  all 
the  fords  in  the  stream,  but  I  can  find  none  that  I 
like."  1 

With  Spain  in  this  humour  and  the  Huguenots  re- 
stored to  favour  in  France,  the  political  objections  to 
the  release  of  the  Queen  of  Scots  might  be  supposed 
to  have  been  removed,  or  at  least  materially  dimin- 
ished. Yet  Bacon  and  Cecil  remained  unshaken  in 
their  dishke.  The  winds  shifted  too  rapidly,  and  the 
sky  was  still  too  threatening  for  the  present  calm  to  be 
relied  upon.  Elizabeth  herself,  with  the  instinct  of 
prophecy,  foretold  that  the  peace  in  France  would  not 
last ;  that  it  would  end  in  a  year  or  two  in  some  des- 
perate attempt  to  exterminate  the  Protestants,  and  that 
war  with  England  would  follow.^  Bacon,  in  a  confi- 
dential letter  to  Cecil,  said  that  "  the  proposed  com- 
promise would  not  make  Spain  and  France  the  more 
assured,  but  the  Queen's  Highness  the  less  to  be 
feared."  "  Better  far  it  would  have  been,"  he 
thought,  "  to  have  gone  through  with  the  matter." 
"  Scotland  would  by  that  time  have  been  at  her  devo- 
tion, and  Scotland  and  England  united  might  encoun- 

1  The  Duke  of  Alva  to  Don  Francis  de  Alava,  July  29 :  Teulet,  Vol.  V. 

2  "  Encore  elle  pense  que  quant  Uieu  vous  aura  donne  la  paix,  Ton  ne 
cessera,  avant  deux  ans,  de  vous  pousser  ii  la  guerre  pour  oster  cette  relig- 
ion, et  mesmes  a  vous  animer  contre  ce  roj-aulme  comme  contre  ung  coing 
de  la  terre  qui  sert  de  retrette  aulx  Protestans."  —  La  Motbe  au  Koy, 
Juillet  14:  Depvches,  Vol.  III. 

voi>.  X.  6 


82  History  of  England.  [Ch.  xix. 

ter  the  world  in  arms."     "  The  effect  of  her  present 
measures  would  only  be  to  increase  the    danger,  in- 
crease the  expense,  drive  the  Queen  to  be  burdensome 
to  her  subjects,  which  again  would  breed  new  perils  ; 
but  his  advice  had  not  been  allowed,  and  they  must 
now  wait  for  what  would  follow."  ^     Cecil  himself,  if 
Don    Guerau's   secretary  is    to    be    trusted,  had   sent 
money  to  the  Continent  in  preparation  for  exile.     He 
intended  to  hold  on  to  the  last ;  but  he  believed  that 
the  end  might  come  at  any  time ;  and  after  an  inter- 
view with  the  Queen,  he  desired  Lady  Cecil  to  pack 
her  jewels  and  be  ready  to  fly  at  a  moment's  notice.^ 
The  Duke  of  Norfolk  was  released  from    the  Tower 
the  first  week  in  August,  and  was  allowed  to  reside  at 
Howard  House,  under  the  partial    supervision  of  Sir 
Henry  Neville.     If  Arundel  and  Arundel's  friends  re- 
tained their  hold  upon  the  Queen,  the  next  step  was 
likely  to  be  Cecil's  arrest  or  banishment. 

He  was  not  gone  yet,  however  ;  and  while  he  re- 
mained the  administrative  power  was  still  in 
his  hands,  and  he  was  not  afraid  to  use  it. 
The  person  who  had  nailed  the  Bull  against  the 
Bishop  of  London's  door  had  escaped  for  some  weeks 
undiscovered.  He  had  been  taken  at  last,  however, 
and  was  found  to  be  a  young  gentleman  of  good  fam- 
ily named  Felton.     Catholicism  when  it  assumed  the 

1  Bacon  to  Cecil,  August  13,  abridged:   Domestic  MSS. 

2  "  Esta  es  cosa  cierta  que  el  segretario  Cecil  dixo  a  su  muger  con 
grandes  ansias,  ha  dos  semanas,  viniendo  de  la  Ee3'na  a  su  aposento :  '  Mu- 
ger, si  Dies  no  nos  ayuda,  somos  presos  y  perdidos.  For  tanto  recoged 
vuestras  joyas  y  todo  el  dinero  que  podeis,  paraque  me  sigais  quando  tal 
tiempo  viniere,  como  parece  que  la  mala  fortuna  nos  amenaza.'  Y  aunque 
parece  que  no  seria  esto  assi,  es  cierto  que  esto  paso,  porque  esperaran  el  y 
otros  consejeros  hasta  lo  ultimo.  Al  extremo  piensan  desamparario  todo  y 
passarse  a  Italia,  Vienne,  6  otras  partes."  —  Antonio  de  Guaras  a  Caj-as, 
August  1. 


1570.]  TJie  Reign  of  Elizabeth.  83 

shape  of  treason  could  yet  be  dealt  with.  Felton  con- 
fessed under  the  rack,  but  claimed  his  act  wholly  for 
his  own.  He  was  brought  to  trial,  and  said  at  the  bar 
that  25  peers,  600  gentlemen,  and  30,000  commons 
were  ready  to  die  in  the  Pope's  quarrel.  Cecil,  per- 
haps, wished  to  provoke  them  to  the  experiment. 
Their  champion  was  put  to  death  on  the  scene  of  his 
exploit,  with  all  the  protracted  tortures  which  the  ex- 
ecutioner could  inflict.! 

A  more  audacious  proceeding  followed.     Since  there 
now  appeared  to  be  no  doubt  of  Elizabeth's  intention 
to  proceed  with  the  Queen  of  Scots'  treaty,  the  Earl 
of  Westmoreland,    the  Countess  of  Northumberland, 
the  Nortons,  and  Leonard  Dacres  had  withdrawn  from 
Scotland.     So  long  as  they   remained    either  nothing 
could  be  done,  or  their  extradition  would  be  made  a 
condition    of    the    agreement.       They    had   therefore 
crossed  over  to  the  Netherlands,  intending  to  return 
when  the  Queen  of  Scots  was  released  and  the  stir  in 
England  had  recommenced.     Great  numbers  of  Eng- 
lish refugees  were  already  collected  under  Alva's  pro- 
tection.    Priests,  lawyers,  knights,  peers,  noble  ladies, 
representatives  of  all  sorts  and  ranks  united  in  an  en- 
mity to  their  sovereign,  and  in  a  passionate  hope  of 
speedily  assisting  in  her  overthrow.     They  were  living 
on    pensions  from  Philip,  entertained    much  as  Cha- 
tillon,    Montgomery,    the    Vidame    of    Chartres,    and 
other    Huguenots  had  been  entertained  in    England  ; 
and  there  they  had  continued  some  of  them  from  the 
time  of  Elizabeth's  accession,  scheming,  conspiring,  in- 
triguing,   gliding   backwards    and    forwards   over   the 
Channel    in    disguise,   and  circulating   seditious  pam- 
phlets in  the  English  counties. 

^  "Le  hicieron  quartos  vivo  con  grandissima  crueldad."  —  Dc  Guaras  a 
Cayas,  Agosto  9 :  MS.  Simancas. 


84  History  of  England.  [Ch.  xix. 

Among  these  persons  was  Doctor  Story,  a  man  who 
had  been  notorious  for  his  cruelties  during  the  Marian 
persecutions,  and  for  the  insolence  with  which  he  had 
defended  them  in  Elizabeth's  first  Parliament.  He 
had  been  imprisoned  for  refusing  the  Oath  of  Alle- 
giance, but  he  had  escaped  abroad  and  had  since  been 
especially  active  in  plotting  treason.  On  this  person 
Cecil  had  long  had  his  eye.  Spies  pretending  to  be 
Catholics  had  been  watching  him  and  probing  his  se- 
crets. Besides  the  ordinary  plots  for  invading  Eng- 
land, it  seems  that  he  had  a  scheme  on  foot  in  connex- 
ion with  one  of  the  Hamiltons  for  a  feat  which  would 
have  eclipsed  the  murder  at  Linlithgow.  It  was  noth- 
ing less  than  making  away  with  the  little  King  of 
Scots,  in  the  belief  that  with  his  life  would  be  removed 
the  principal  obstacle  to  his  mother's  marriage  with 
some  Catholic  Prince. ^ 

Whether  Cecil  knew  anything  of  this  does  not  ap- 
pear. He  bribed,  however,  a  refugee  named  Parker 
who  was  in  Story's  confidence.  Story  himself  was 
employed  by  Alva  to  search  vessels  arriving  from  Eng- 
land suspected  of  containing  heretical  books.  Parker 
enticed    him    bv  false  information    on  board  a  trader 

1  This  preposterous  piece  of  wickedness  would  have  been  incredible  had 
it  not  been  confessed  by  Story  himself.  The  account  of  it  was  transmitted 
by  the  Spanish  Ambassador  to  Philip.  The  Prestal  spoken  of  as  another 
of  the  conspirators  will  be  heard  of  hereafter.  Don  Guerau's  words  are 
these :  — 

"  Dixo  Story  que  Hamilton  le  refirio  que  le  habia  escripto  Prestal  que 
aquel  negocio  que  el  Story  y  el  Hamilton  le  habian  dicho,  que  podia  hacer 
con  Ingles  que  entonces  estaba  en  Irlanda,  no  se  podia  acabar  sin  gran 
copia  de  dinero.  Y  este  secreto  era  sobre  matar  al  Rey  de  Escocia ;  porque 
este  Prestal  habia  dicho  a  Hamilton  que  con  dificultad  pudieran  ser  los  Es- 
coceses  reducidos  a  la  obediencia  de  la  RejTia,  mientras  ella  estuviese  sin 
marido,  y  que  ningun  hombre  principal  la  querria  por  muger  mientras  vi- 
viese  aquel  muchacho,  pero  si  le  mataba  que  el  esperaba  que  el  hermano 
del  Emperador  se  casaria  con  ella."  —  Sacada  de  las  Confessiones  del 
Doctor  Story:  3IS.  Simancas. 


1570.]  The  Reign  of  Mizabeth.  86 

lying  in  the  river  below  Antwerp,  where  he  was  im- 
mediately flung  into  the  hold,  the  hatches  were  closed 
down  upon  him,  and  in  a  few  hours  he  was  in  Yar- 
mouth.i 

Finding  himself  in  the  hands  of  the  enemy,  he  wrote 
on  being  landed,  half  in  irony,  to  Cecil,  that  "  as  he 
was  old  and  decrepit,  one  iron  on  his  sound  leg  would 
be  sufficient  to  hold  him,"  and  begging  that  he  might 
be  tolerably  lodged,  "  that  he  perished  not  before  his 
time."  2 

The  "  lodging  "  prepared  for  him  was  his  own  Lol- 
lards' Tower,  which  had  been  empty  since  he  and  his 
had  lost  the  power  to  persecute.  He  bore  his  fate 
with  considerable  stoicism,^  but  his  firmness  failed  him 
in  the  terrible  ordeal  which  followed.  He  was  exam- 
ined in  his  cell  under  the  rack  as  Felton  had  been. 
The  Catholics  prayed  that  God  would  support  him 
under  it :  ^  but   he  was  seventy  years  old  and  feeble 

1  Parker  was  treated  in  the  same  way,  and  sent  to  London  as  a  prisoner, 
lest  information  should  get  abroad  of  his  treachery,  and  he  and  others  should 
be  disabled  from  doing  similar  services.  The  Government  was  already 
contemplating  the  seizure  of  another  of  the  gang.  Sir  H.  Cobham,  writing 
from  Antwerp  on  the  4th  of  September,  says :  —  "I  am  informed  to  a 
surety  that  Prestal  is  with  the  Countess  of  Northumberland.  If  the 
manner  of  the  conveyance  of  Story  had  been  kept  secret  in  England,  or 
yet  hereafter  shall  be  well  carried,  I  think  there  is  which  will  hazard  to  do 
the  like  enterprise  by  Prestal.  In  the  meantime  Story  can  infonn  you 
what  practices  Prestal  hath  in  hand  for  Scotland.  The  rebels  here  pro- 
voke and  stir  what  they  may.  The  chief  captain  of  those  which  are  busy 
in  practices  is  Prestal.  Story  was  next." — Cobham  to  Cecil,  September 
4 :  MSS.  Flanders. 

2  Story  to  Cecil,  from  Yarmouth,  August  15:  MSS.  Domestic. 

8  "  Story  seemeth  to  take  little  thought  for  any  matter,  and  is  as  perverse 
in  mind  concerning  religion  as  heretofore  he  hath  been,  lie  plainly  saith 
that  what  he  did  in  Queen  Mary's  time,  he  did  it  lawfully  because  he  was 
but  a  minister  of  the  law;  and  if  it  was  the  law  again  he  might  do  the 
like."  —  Watts  to  Cecil,  September  4 :  AfSS.  Domestic. 

*  "  Danle  en  esta  dia  tormcnto  y  creo  lo  pasara  mal.  Dios  le  ayudc  quo 
todos  los  Catolicos  ruegan  por  el."  —  Don  Guerau  to  Philip,  December  13. 


86  History  of  Eiigland.  [Ch.  xix. 

for  his  age,  and  his  dark  secrets  were  wrung  from  him 
by  his  agony.  He  was  then  tried  for  high  treason. 
He  said  that  he  was  a  naturahsed  subject  of  Phihp, 
but  the  plea  was  not  allowed.  He  was  sentenced  as  a 
traitor,  committed  to  a  dungeon  in  the  Tower,  and  left 
there  waiting  for  execution.  If  Alva  and  Philip  en- 
dured this,  the  Catholics  in  England  might  well  de- 
spair of  help  from  them,  and  Elizabeth  might  lay  aside 
her  fears.  Here  was  a  man  living  under  the  King  of 
Spain's  protection,  in  the  employ  of  the  Government, 
and  seized  and  carried  off  as  it  were  under  Alva's 
eyes.  Yet  Alva  contented  himself  with  a  mild  remon- 
strance to  the  English  Minister.  "  The  proceeding 
appeared  strange  to  him,"  he  said  ;  "  the  Queen  of 
England  should  remember  that  it  would  discontent 
her  to  have  the  like  done  in  her  countries  ;  it  was  the 
King's  pleasure,  however,  to  bear  with  her  in  a  matter 
which  he  would  not  have  suffered  at  another  prince's 
hand."  ^  The  English  Catholics  little  expected  such 
an  answer.  The  haughty  Alva  had  not  been  cele- 
brated for  endurance  of  injuries.  The  Queen  of 
Spain  had  not  sailed  ;  ninety  large  ships  were  lying 
armed  and  manned  in  the  Scheldt ;  and  unless  Spain 
intended  to  forfeit  her  rank  in  Europe,  she  must  move 
at  last.  Lord  Seton  sped  across  from  Scotland  to  offer 
Aberdeen  for  a  landing  place.  Lord  Derby  sent  word 
that  he  could  raise  ten  thousand  men  in  Lancashire. 
Arundel,  Worcester,  Montague,  Southampton,  Lum- 
ley,  all  told  Don  Guerau  that  they  were  ready.  Nor- 
folk was  flinching  ;  but  Norfolk's  absence  mattered  not. 
They  waited  only  but  for  a  sign  from  Alva,  and  they 
pledged  their  lives  that  there  should  be  no  second  fail- 
ure. Twice  the  Bishop  of  Ross  came  with  this  message 
1  Cobham  to  Cecil,  August  31:  MSS.  Flanders. 


1570.]  The  Reign  of  Elizabeth.  87 

to  the  Ambassador.  The  Ambassador  could  but  send 
their  words  through  the  Duke  to  his  master,  adding, 
however,  to  the  letter  a  few  words  of  his  own  to  rouse 
Alva  before  it  should  be  too  late.^     "  Now," 

1  •  1         •       1  p  -n<  n  1       September. 

he  said,  "  is  the  moment  for  your  Excellency  s 
presence  in  England.      Never  could  you   come  more 
opportunely.     You  will  see  what  I  have  written  to  his 
Majesty  ;  what  Lord  Derby  and  the  rest  say  is  all  true." 

The  Catholic  Lords  sent  a  messenger  of  their  own 
to  Philip.  They  had  trusted  to  him,  they  said,  and 
hoped,  till  they  were  almost  in  despair.  The  Queen's 
Ministers  were  now  distracted,  quarrelling  among 
themselves  and  uncertain  what  to  do.  No  such  oppor- 
tunity had  occurred  before  ;  and  if  it  was  allowed  to 
pass,  such  another  might  never  return.  It  mattered 
not  whether  a  force  was  landed  in  Scotland  or  landed 
in  England,  the  effect  would  be  the  same.  They 
offered  harbours,  supplies  —  all  that  an  army  could 
want ;  and  if  Phihp  desired  it,  the  Prince  of  Scot- 
land should  be  placed  in  his  hands  as  their  secu- 
rity.2 

Tlie  excitement  amono;  the  Catholics  could  not 
wholly  be  concealed.  Huntingdon  had  his  eye  on 
Lord  Derby,  and  Avarned  Cecil  that  mischief  was  in  the 
wind ;  "^  and  whatever  might  be  Elizabeth's  pleasure, 
Cecil  determined  that  with  the  first  symptoms  of  fur- 
ther rebellion,  Mary  Stuart  should  die  ;  she  at  least 

1  Descifrada  de  Don  Guerau  a  su  Mag<l.  —  Don  Guerau  al  Duque  de 
Alva,  dos  de  Setiembre :  MS.  Simancas. 

2  "  Avisos  que  ha  dado  Geo  Kempe  en  Madrid,  Setiembre  19:"  -MS. 
Ibid. 

3  Huntingdon  to  Cecil,  August  24:  Burghley  Papers,  Vol  I.  So  dan- 
gerous was  the  Court  that  Huntingdon,  after  giving  his  information,  added, 
"  Take  heed  to  which  of  your  companions  you  utter  this,  though  you  bo 
now  but  five  together." 


88  History  of  England.  [Ch.  xix. 

should  not  be  carried  off  to  be  a  head  and   rallymg 
point  to  the  Queen's  enemies.^ 

But  the  cloud,  as  so  many  others  had  done,  broke 
and  passed  off.  Alva  would  run  no  risk  without  pos- 
itive orders  from  Philip ;  and  Philip  was  too  full  of 
the  dangers  which  he  expected  from  the  peace  in 
France  to  be  willing  to  take  further  quarrels  on  him- 
self. Two  Spanish  officers  went  over  to  Aberdeen 
and  stayed  a  week  or  two  with  Huntly,  at  Strathbogie, 
to  look  about  them.  The  King  of  Spain  offered  Eliza- 
beth his  friendly  assistance  in  Scotland  ;  but  his  inter- 
ference was  graciously  declined,  and  Philip  said  no 
more.  Clinton  lay  in  the  Channel  with  the  fleet,^ 
either  to  defend  the  country  from  invasion,  or  to  pay 
the  honours  of  the  passage  to  the  Queen  of  Spain  as 
the  event  might  turn.     At  the  beo-innino;  of 

October.  °  .  ^ 

October  the  huge  armada  weighed  anchor  in 
the  Scheldt,  and  swept  with  a  leading  breeze  down 
Channel  without  approaching  the  English  shores. 
The  Queen's  ships,  with  the  flying  squadrons  of  pri- 
vateers, hung  about  the  skirts  of  the  Spaniards  till 
they  were  in  the  open  waters  of  the  Atlantic  ;  but 
courtesies  and  compliments  were  interchanged  instead 
of  cannon  shot.  The  English  Admiral  went  on  board 
the  Royal  vessel  and  presented  the  Princess  with  a 
diamond  which  had  been  given  by  Philip  to  Queen 
Mary ;  and  the  French  Ambassador  was  driven  sor- 
rowfully to  conclude  that  there  was  no  ill-will  between 

1  "  Al  primero  movimiento  que  haya  en  este  reyno  cortaran  la  cabeza  de 
la  Eeyna  de  Escocia  —  assi  esta  en  el  consejo  desta  Reyna  resuelto  y 
acordado."  — Don  Guerau  to  Philip,  September  25:  MS.  Simancas. 

2  Much  reduced  from  its  intended  strength,  owing  to  the  Queen's  econo- 
mies. "  La  Reyna  toma  grande  enojo  en  ver  que  la  tray  an  a  firmar  cedula 
de  treinta  mill  libras  gastadas  con  el  aparato  desta  armada,  y  assi  cessa  del 
todo  el  armar  mas  de  las  diez  naves  de  que  he  dado  aviso  a  V.  Magd  que 
estan  en  orden."  —  Same  to  the  same,  September  2:  MS.  Ibid. 


1570.]  The  Rdgn  of  Elkaheth.  89 

the  Catholic  King  and  his  heretic  sister-in-law,  and 
that  Spain  and  England  would  soon  compose  their  dif- 
ferences.i  The  English  Ministers  themselves  yielded 
to  the  pleasant  hope  that  perhaps  it  might  be  so. 
Ridolfi,  the  Pope's  agent,  the  most  passionate  fire- 
brand in  Europe,  volunteered  his  services  for  the  ex- 
change of  the  arrested  ships  and  property ;  and  so 
plausible  was  he  that  even  the  acute  Walsinghara  rec- 
ommended Ridolfi  to  Cecil  as  a  person  in  whom  he 
might  confidently  rely.^ 

Meantime  Scotland  was  seething  and  fermenting  in 
the  expectation  of  the  Queen  of  Scots'  return.  Both 
parties  denounced  Elizabeth  —  the  Protestants  for  her 
breach  of  promise,  the  rest  for  the  insulting  and  impe- 
rious attitude  Avhich  she  had  assumed  towards  their 
countr}^ ;  yet  all  were  persuaded  that  the  Queen  was 
really  coming  back ;  and  the  only  question  was  whether 
Elizabeth  was  to  dictate  the  conditions,  or  whether  the 
restoration  was  to  be  forced  upon  her  with  a  high 
hand. 

Commissioners  from  both  King  and  Queen  had  been 
required  to  come  to  London  where  they  could  be 
heard  upon  their  several  claims  ;  but  neither  party  had 
been  anxious  for  haste.  The  new  Regent  and  his 
friends  were  hoping  that  something  might  occur  to 
change  Elizabeth's  purpose  once  more  ;  Chatelherault 
and  jNIaitland  waited  for  the  result  of  their  application 
to  Alva. 

jMaitland's  heart  was  set  steadily  on  one  point  —  to 
bring  Elizabeth  on  her  knees  before  his  own  mistress. 
If  it  could  be  accomplished  by  force,  so  much  the  bet- 
ter, but  the  treaty  would  be  a  road  as  sure,  though  less 

1  La  Mothe,  October  10. 

2  Walsingliam  to  Cecil,  October  22:  MSS.  Domestic. 


90  History  of  England.  [Ch.  xix. 

rapid,  to  the  same  end.  He  expected  that  the  condi- 
tions would  be  strained  in  the  hope  that  they  might  be 
rejected.  If  this  was  EKzabeth's  purpose  he  meant  to 
disappoint  her  by  agreeing  to  everything,  however  hu- 
mihating,  being  satisfied  that  when  the  Queen  of  Scots 
was  once  at  hberty,  whatever  engagements  she  might 
make  would  snap  like  rotten  cords. 

He  was  staying  through  the  summer  and  autumn 
at  Blair  Athol,^  recruiting  his  shaken  health 
among  the  glens  and  mountains.  Cultivated 
far  beyond  the  wild  men  on  whom  he  played  as  upon 
instruments,  Maitland  would  at  any  age  of  the  world 
have  been  in  the  first  rank  of  statesmen.  He  had  lit- 
tle in  him  of  high  moral  purpose  in  the  technical  sense 
of  the  words  ;  but  he  was  a  passionate  Scot,  proud  of 
his  own  intellect,  and  prouder  of  his  country,  to  which 
he  devoted  himself  with  a  tenacity  of  purpose  that  no 
temptation  of  private  interest  could  affect.  He  re- 
mains with  all  his  faults  a  person  singularly  interesting, 
and  whatever  will  throw  light  upon  his  character  de- 
serves to  be  carefully  studied. 

After  the  sharp  burst  of  scorn  with  which  he  had 
spoken  of  the  destruction  of  Hamilton,  he  resumed  his 
self-command,  and  pretending  to  be  satisfied  that  his 
mistress  must  abandon  the  hope  of  recovering  her  lib- 
erty by  revolution,  he  sketched  to  Sussex  an  outline 
of  the  conditions  which  he  said  that  he  was  prepared 
to  urge  upon  her  acceptance.  The  sore  subject  of  the 
title  might  be  dropped  conclusively.  The  Queen  of 
Scots  should  promise  never  again  to  molest  the  Queen 
of  England,  and  she  "  should  strengthen  her  obliga- 
tions with  her  great  seal  and  oath."  The  Emperor 
and  the  Kings  of  France  and  Spain  would  be  sufficient 
1  Maitland  was  the  Earl's  brother-in-law. 


1570.]  The  Beign  of  Elizabeth.  91 

securities.  These  sovereigns  would  "  bind  themselves 
to  become  her  enemies  if  she  broke  her  engagements," 
and  an  Act  of  Parliament  might  be  passed  in  England 
cuttino;  her  off  from  the  succession.  The  Queen  of 
England  "  should  dispose  of  her  in  marriage  ;  "  "  the 
chief  persons  in  Scotland  that  took  her  side  should  be 
hostages  for  her,  and  the  Queen  of  Scots  should  either 
reside  freely  herself  in  England  or  the  Prince  should 
come  there  in  her  place."  ^ 

These  offers  naturally  appeared  to  Sussex  "  as  am- 
ple upon  the  sudden  he  could  conceive  needed  to  be 
demanded."     His  one  objection    was  that    "the   per- 
formance of  them  depended  only  upon  conscience,  and 
rested  in  the  will  and  liberty  of  the  persons  that  should 
perform."     He  had  no    confidence  in  Maitland.     He 
doubted  whether  he  was  dealing  honestly    with  him, 
and   he    intimated    that    "  bye    practices "    would   be 
found  dangerous,  and  that  "  her  Majesty  had  subjects 
who  would  provide  for  her  surety  whatever  became  of 
themselves."     But  the  proposals,  if  made  in  sincerity, 
deserved  consideration,  and  while  sending  them  on  to 
the  Council,  Sussex  used  the  opportunity  which  Mait- 
land's  letter  gave  him  to  ask  for  an  explanation  of  the 
problem  which  was  perplexing  everybody  —  why  he 
who  had  so  long  acted  with  the   Protestants  had  gone 
over  to  the  other  side.     He  had  been  one  of  those  who 
had  advocated  harder  measures  for  the  Queen  of  Scots 
than  the  Queen  of  England  would  allow.     "  The  per- 
sons were  the  same,  the  cause  the  same,  the  matter 
the  same."     "  How  had  severity  which  was  just  one 
day  become  unjust  the  next  ?  "     "  There  was  neither 
wisdom  in  it  nor  philosophy."  ^ 

1  Maitland  to  Sussex,  June  29;  Sussex  to  Maitland,  July  5:  MSS. 
Scotland. 

2  Sussex  to  Maitland,  July  5:  MS.  Ibid. 


92  History  of  England.  [Ch.  xix. 

A  note  from  Maitland  to  his  brother  explains  the 
object  of  his  first  letter  to  Sussex.  He  was  wishing 
merely  to  recover  for  himself  the  confidence  of  the 
English  Council ;  ^  but  a  correspondence  followed  char- 
acteristic both  of  Sussex  and  himself. 

"  You  ask  me  why  I  have  changed  my  mind,"  he 
replied.  "  Have  you  never  changed  yours  ?  Those 
are  not  the  wisest  men  who  remain  alwavs  of  one 
opinion.  The  skilful  sailing  master  applies  his  course 
as  the  wind  and  weather  drive  him.  You  speak  of 
philosophy  ;  I  have  none  of  it.  Yet  if  I  turned  my 
mind  that  way  I  would  not  study  it  after  the  intracta- 
ble discipline  of  the  Stoics,  but  would  rather  become  a 
student  in  the  school  where  it  is  taught  that  wise 
men's  minds  must  be  led  by  probable  reasons.  That 
same  firm,  certain,  unchangeable,  and  undoubting  per- 
suasion which  is  requisite  in  matters  of  faith  must  not 
be  required  in  matters  of  policy ;  and  good  and  evil 
are  not  such  in  themselves  but  in  their  relation  to 
other  things.  You  say  persons,  cause,  and  matter  are 
the  same.  It  is  not  so,  for  time  has  altered  many 
things.  The  affections  of  men  are  chancred  in  both 
realms,  and  the  persons  are  altered.  The  person  of  the 
late  Reo;ent  was  a  circumstance  of  no  small  moment. 
And  severity  was  a  matter  which  might  well  vary 
with  the  change  only  of  time.  To  sequestrate  the 
Queen  for  a  season  might  be  required  ;  to  keep  her  all 
her  days  in  prison  would  be  rigour  intolerable.  Were 
it  true  that  I  had  advised  more  hard  dealing,  yet  the 

1  "  I  send  you  herewith  the  copy  of  my  letter  to  the  Earl  of  Sussex 
which  you  desire,  wherein  you  will  think  I  have  gone  very  far ;  yet  I  did  it 
not  without  consideration.  I  open  nothing  but  that  I  know  is  already  in 
hand  and  muckle  mair.  I  would  they  had  that  opinion  of  me  that  I  dealt 
squarely  and  roundly  with  them;  and  my  opinion  will  not  make  the  matter 
up  or  down."  —  Maitland  to  the  Laird  of  Coldingham,  July  17:  MSS. 
Scotland. 


1570.]  TJie  Reign  of  Elizabeth.  93 

substance  of  things  is  not  changed  by  our  opinion. 
They  are  not  good  or  ill,  rigorous  or  equitable,  because 
we  think  them  so.  I  might  have  been  wrong;  then 
and  I  might  be  right  now  —  but  it  is  not  so.  I  may 
have  been  with  those  that  persuaded  worse  to  be  done 
to  the  Queen  of  Scots  by  your  sovereign,  but  I  was 
never  a  persuader  of  such  matters  myself.  I  never 
went  about  from  the  beginning  to  advise  her  destruc- 
tion, nor  meant  at  any  time  ill  to  her  person.  A 
month  after  the  late  Regent  accepted  office  I  dealt 
earnestly  with  him  to  accord  with  the  Queen.  From 
first  to  last  I  have  laboured  always  that  the  matter 
should  be  taken  up  by  accord."  ^ 

The  high  ground  of  moral  abstraction  was  pleasant 
to  Sussex.  He  burnished  up  the  rusty  weapons  of  his 
school  days,  pelting  his  adversary  with  logical  for- 
mulas, and  fastening  upon  his  heretical  views  of  good 
and  evil.  He  ran  over  the  various  steps  which  had 
been  taken  by  the  party  of  which  Maitland  had  been  a 
member. 

"  To  depose  a  sovereign,"  he  said,  "  was  a  serious 
matter,  not  to  be  taken  up  lightly  and  laid  aside  be- 
cause times  were  changed.  Alteration  on  such  a  point 
was  not  wisdom  but  frivolous  mutabilitation,  unless  in- 
deed the  cause  alleged  for  the  deposition  had  been  dis- 
covered to  be  false.  He  desired  to  be  satisfied  whether 
Maitland  thought  it  was  false. 

"  What  your  party  did  in  England,"  he  continued, 
"  tended  not  to  a  short  restraint  of  your  Queen,  but  was 
directly  either  to  deliver  her  captive  into  your  own 
custodies,  or  to  bind  the  Queen  to  detain  her  so  as  she 
should  never  trouble  Scotland  more.  If  her  captivity 
or  a  worse  matter  was  meant,  God  and  your  own  con- 

1  Maitland  to  Sussex,  July  16,  condensed :  MSS.  Scotland. 


94  History  of  England.  [Ch.  xix. 

science  do  know  ;  only  this  I  am  sure,  that  if  her  Maj- 
esty would  have  digested  that  which  was  openly 
delivered  unto  her  by  the  general  consent  of  your 
whole  company,  in  such  sort  as  ye  all  desired,  advised, 
and  earnestly —  I  will  not  say  passionately  —  persuaded 
her  at  that  time  to  do  for  her  own  surety,  the  benefit 
of  Scotland,  and  the  continuing  of  amity  between  both 
the  realms,  there  had  been  worse  done  to  your  Queen 
than  either  her  Majesty  or  any  subject  of  England 
whom  you  take  to  be  least  free  from  passions  could  be 
induced  to  think  meet  to  be  done."  ^ 

Maitland  did  not  care  to  prolong  the  argument. 
He  said  he  was  ready  to  answer  for  his  conduct  to  his 
own  mistress  when  she  pleased  to  call  him  to  account 
for  it,  and  he  was  working  loyally  to  deserve  the  par- 
don which  she  had  long  before  bestowed  upon  him. 
Sussex  sent  the  correspondence  to  the  Court,  and  Ehz- 
abeth  complimented  him  for  having  come  off  with  hon- 
our from  an  encounter  with  one  whom  she  called  "  the 
flower  of  the  wits  of  Scotland."  "  She  was  more 
pleased  with  him,"  she  said,  "  than  if  he  had  won  an 
action  in  the  field  ;  "  "  she  always  thought  him  wise, 
but  had  never  seen  a  more  absolute  proof  of  it ;  he  had 
overmatched  and  confounded  Lidington,  not  only  with 
the  truth,  but  with  the  sharp  good  order  in  which  he 
had  expounded  it."  ^ 

Still  unless  Mary  Stuart  got  herself  killed,  Elizabeth 
had  determined  to  send  her  back,  and  was  not  again 
inclined  to  change  her  mind.  She  said  only  she  would 
have  conditions  which  should  enable  her  to  "  command 
their  observance  ;  "  she  did  not  mean  to  depend  on 
promises  ;  besides  hostages  she  would  have  some  cas- 

i  Sussex  to  Maitland,  July  29 :  MSS.  Scotland. 
2  Elizabeth  to  Sussex,  August  11:  MS.  Ibid. 


1570.]  Tfie  Reign  of  Elizabeth.  95 

tie  or  castles  in  her  own  hands  or  in  the  hands  of  Scots 
on  whom  she  could  rely.^ 

Sussex  advised  her  strongly  to  secure  her  ground 
beforehand,  and  even  as  "  a  means  towards  the  peace," 
allow  him  to  take  Edinburgh  and  Dumbarton.  She 
contented  herself,  however,  with  sending  a  sharp  mes- 
sage to  Chatelherault  and  Argyle,  that  if  they  meddled 
with  Lennox  and  Morton  she  did  not  mean  to  be  "  so 
deluded  "  as  to  pass  it  over.  Herries  having  given 
fresh  trouble,  she  permitted  Sussex  to  make  one  more 
foray  into  Galloway,  where  he  blew  up  Dumfries 
Castle  and  left  "  not  a  stone  house  standing  capable  of 
giving  shelter  to  armed  men."  ^  Having  shown  in  this 
way  that  she  was  not  afraid  and  would  endure  no  tri- 
fling, she  proceeded  seriously  with  the  consideration  of 
the  treatv.  Sussex  lamented  still  that  he  had  been 
forbidden  "  to  go  through  with  things  ;  "  "  the  heavier 
the  hand  of  the  English  Government  the  easier,  sim- 
pler, and  more  durable,"  he  thought,  "  the  composition 
would  be."  But  the  Queen  considered  that  for  the 
present  enough  had  been  done.  The  difficulty  now 
was  rather  in  restraining  the  King's  party,  who  in  des- 
peration, and  perhaps  privately  instigated  by  Cecil, 
might  try  to  make  a  composition  impossible.  Lennox, 
under  pretence  of  public  order,  hanged  a  party  of 
thirty  to  forty  Gordons  whom  he  caught  somewhere : 
"  shrewd  justice  "  as  even  Sussex  was  obliged  to  term 
it.  Elizabeth  required  a  bond  from  Chatelherault  and 
his  friends  that  they  would  keep  the  peace  and  would 
not  bring  in  French  or  Spaniards.  The  Earl  of 
Argyle,  Pluntly,  and  others,  assembled  to  sign  it  at  a 
house  of  Lord  Athol's,  and  ran  a  narrow  chance  of  be- 

1  Elizabeth  to  Sussex,  August  11 :  MSH.  Scolland. 

2  Ibid. 


96  History  of  Englaiid.  [Ch.  xix 

ing  surprised  and  murdered.  The  bond,  however,  was 
completed  and  sent  up.  The  Regent  was  lectured 
into  behaving  himself.  Lady  Lennox  made  an  effort 
to  induce  Elizabeth  to  pause.  The  Queen  of  Scots 
had  tried  to  persuade  her  that  she  had  been  accused 
unjustly  of  the  murder,  and  had  promised  "  to  love  her 
as  an  aunt  and  respect  her  as  her  mother-in-law,"  if 
in  future  they  could  be  friends.     Lady  Len- 

September.  t     i         •  i  /^       -i  • 

nox  rephed  with  a  protest  to  Oecil  agamst 
the  restoration  as  tending  to  obscure  the  memory  of 
the  crimes  of  which  she  was  indisputably  guilty.-^ 

Elizabeth  herself  too  had  forever  fresh  and  fresh 
causes  of  suspicion  dragged  before  her.  A  gold 
brooch  fell  into  her  hands  in  which  the  lion  of  Scot- 
land was  represented  crushing  a  leopard's  skull.  The 
rose  and  thistle  were  twined  below  them  with  the 
words  — 

"  Ainsy  abattra  le  lyon  Esconpoys  le  lidpart  Anglois." 

1   LADY  LENNOX  TO  CECIL. 

"  September  8. 
"  Good  Master  Secretaiy,  —  You  shall  understand  that  I  have  heard  of 
some  Commissioners  that  shall  go  to  the  Queen  of  Scotland  to  treat  with 
her  of  matters  tending  to  her  liberty  to  go  thither,  of  which  she  herself 
doth  already  make  assured  account.  The  knowledge  thereof  is  to  me  of 
no  small  discomfort,  considering  that  notwithstanding  the  grievous  murder 
which  by  her  means  only  upon  my  son  her  husband  was  executed,  divers 
persons  iu  this  realm  doth  yet  doubt,  and  a  great  many  doth  credit,  that 
since  her  coming  hither  she  is  found  clear,  and  not  to  be  culpable  of  that 
fact;  because,  as  they  say,  since  all  the  conventions  and  conferences  had 
between  the  nobilit}'  touching  that  matter,  it  has  not  been  published  and 
made  known  that  the  said  Queen  was  found  in  any  way  guilty  therein. 
Much  more  when  they  already  deceived  shall  see  her  released  to  go  home  at 
her  pleasure  (though  upon  some  devised  conditions  to  serve  the  present), 
their  former  conceits  shall  be  verified ;  and  therein  they  being  satisfied  it 
may  appear  that  she  hath  sustained  insufferable  wrongs  to  be  for  no  offence 
so  long  restrained  within  this  realm.  The  rest  thereof  I  refer  to  your  wis- 
dom. I  am  enforced  to  crave  your  friendship  herein,  and  to  impart  this  my 
meaning  to  her  Majesty,  whose  Highness  I  trust  will  hold  me  excused, 
considering  whereupon  I  ground  my  desire  for  the  stay  of  her  who  other- 
wise I  doubt  shall  stir  up  such  ill  as  hereafter  all  too  late  may  be  repented." 
—  MSS.  Mary  Queen  of  Scots,  Rolls  House. 


1570.]  The  Reign  of  Elizaheih.  97 

"  If  that  be  our  hap,"  said  Randolph,  by  whom  the 
emblem  was  sent  to  London,  "  if  that  be  our  hap  to 
have  our  lion  of  England  clawn  by  the  powle,  we  have 
overlono-  nourished  so  cruel  a  beast  that  will  devoui' 
the  whole  estate."  ^ 

Nevertheless  the  Queen  determined  to  persevere. 
She  had  given  her  word  to  the  King  of  France,  she 
said,  and  she  meant  to  keep  it ;  adding,  with  a  proud 
consciousness  of  the  truth  of  the  words,  that  no  sov- 
ereign  in  Christendom  would  have  shown  the  forbear- 
ance  which  she  had  shown  throughout  the  whole  busi- 
ness.^ She  repeated  her  desire  that  Lennox  and 
Morton  should  send  commissioners  to  London.  She 
assured  them  that  they  need  be  under  no  alarm.  She 
would  provide  as  carefully  for  them  as  for  herself,  but 
the  cause  must  come  to  an  end  ;  "  she  could  no  longer 
with  honour  or  reason  continue  to  hold  the  Queen  of 
Scots  in  restraint."  ^ 

Of  all  conditions  the  best  would  be  the  Queen  of 
Scots'  marriage  to  some  safe  person.  Sir  Henry  Carey 
or  some  one  like  him.  Could  this  be  arranged  other 
securities  might  be  dispensed  with ;  if  not,  it  was  ne- 
cessary to  tie  her  hands.  The  French  Government 
promised  to  be  contented  with  anything  provided  she 
was  still  recognised  as  Queen.  Ehzabeth  fell  back 
upon  the  terms  which  had  been  sketched  by  Maitland. 
England,  Scotland,  the  people,  and  sovereigns  should 
be  united  in  "  a  perfect  amity ;  "  without  prejudice  to 
her  future  claims  the  Queen  of  Scots  should  abandon 
definitely  her  present  pretences  to  the  Crown  of  Eng- 
land ;  and  she  should  swear,  in    the   presence  of  the 

1  Randolph  to  Cecil,  October  2.  Compare  La  Mothe,  Z)e/)cc/je«,  October  25. 

2  La.Mothe:  Ibid. 

'  Elizabctli  to  Sussex,  September  28 :  MSS.  Scotland. 

VOL.    X.  7 


98  History  of  England.  [Ch.  xix. 

assembled  English  and  Scotch  nobility,  never  more  to 
trouble  the  peace  of  that  realm.  She  should  make  no 
league  with  foreign  powers  to  England's  prejudice,  in- 
troduce no  foreign  troops,  and  form  no  marriage  with- 
out Elizabeth's  consent,  especially  none  with  the  Duke 
of  Anjou.  The  religion  established  in  Scotland  should 
not  be  changed  ;  Dumbarton  Castle  should  be  held  by 
an  Enorlish  garrison  ;  the  Prince  should  be  brouo;ht  to 
England  to  be  educated.  To  obviate  any  future  ob- 
jection that  she  was  consenting  under  compulsion,  the 
Queen  of  Scots  should  "  by  an  instrument  to  be  devised 
in  due  form  of  law,  declare  herself  at  liberty,"  and 
"  confirm  the  articles  collectively  and  separately  under 
the  Great  Seal  of  Scotland."  Should  she  violate  her 
engagements  in  any  part,  "  she  should  be  in  mere  jus- 
tice adjudged,  deputed,  and  taken  as  a  person  by  her 
own  consent  deprived  of  any  title,  challenge,  or  claim 
to  the  eventual  English  succession,"  and  "  the  Queen 
of  England  should  have  liberty  in  the  same  cause  to 
promote  the  young  King  by  all  means  possible  to  the 
honour  of  Scotland."  ^ 

These  conditions  were  to  be  sent  down  to  Chats- 
worth,  before  further  steps  were  taken,  for  the  Queen 
of  Scots'  approval.  If  she  made  difficulties,  she  was 
to  be  reminded  of  her  incessant  conspiracies  against 
Elizabeth,  "  such  as  no  sovereign  had  ever  remitted 
when  the  pretending  party  was  in  the  power  of  the 
possessor  of  the  Crown  ;  "  and  if  this  failed,  she  was 
to  be  told  "  that  the  Queen's  Majesty  had  hitherto  for- 
borne to  publish  such  matters  as  she  might  have  done 
to  have  touched  the  Queen  of  Scots  for  the    murder 

1  Articles  of  accord.  Endorsed  by  Cecil,  "  Inter  Reginam  Angliae  et 
ScotijB,  September,  1570."  —  MSS.  Mary  Queen  of  Scots.  Projet  d'accord: 
Teulet,  Vol.  II. 


1570.]  The  Reign  of  Elizabeth.  99 

of  her  liusband,"  with  a  hint  that  if  driven  to  extrem- 
ities, Elizabeth  might  yet  have  recourse  to  those  means 
for  her  own  protection.^ 

There  was  no  fear,  however,  that  Mary  Stuart 
would  require  to  be  pressed  in  this  way.  If  France 
continued  cold  and  Spain  apathetic,  her  friends  had 
agreed  that  she  was  to  raise  no  more  difficulties  than 
would  suffice  to  allay  suspicion.  The  one  paramount 
object  was  to  get  her  out  of  England,  and  this  once 
done,  means  could  be  found  to  break  the  chains  of  the 
strictest  treaty  which  art  could  draw.  The  Pope,  with 
his  power  to  bind  and  to  loose,  would  absolve  her  of  her 
oaths ;  and  "  a  way  would  be  found  "  to  escape  from 
the  more  substantial  engagements.  Maitland  had  in- 
structed  her  from  time  to  time  in  the  course  which  she 
was  to  pursue.  Two  of  his  letters  were  intercepted 
by  Lennox,  and  at  last,  though  written  in  cijoher,  were 
read  by  Cecil's  industry  —  at  last,  though  with  diffi- 
culty, and  not  till  later  in  the  winter,  not  in  time  to 
cut  off  the  negotiations  in  the  bud,  but  in  time  to  pre- 
vent the  deadly  flower  from  growing  to  maturity. 

As  representing  the  spirit  in  which  the  Queen  of 
Scots  and  her  friends  were  about  to  enter  into  the  con- 
ference, the  sincerity  of  those  professions  with  which 
Mary  Stuart  had  requested  the  Pope's  permission  to 
illude  Eli/.abetli,  the  substance  of  these  letters  may  be 
given  in  this  place. 

On  the  9th  of  August,  while  still  at  Blair  Athol, 
and  after  his  correspondence  with  Sussex,  Maitland 
wrote  to  the  Queen  of  Scots  to  tell  her  to  allow  noth- 
ing to  interfere  with  the  completion  of  the  treaty. 
Help  eventually  might  be  looked  for  from  abroad. 
Elizabeth  was  false  —  on  his  life  he  could  swear  that 

1  Notes  in  Cecil's  hand :  MSS.  Mary  Queen  of  Scots. 


100  History  of  England.  [Ch.  xix. 

she  meant  no  good  —  but  Mary  Stuart  must  continue 
to  treat  with  her  as  though  "  she  had  conJSdence  in 
her  friendship,"  "  and  must  give  her  words  for 
words."  1 

To  the  Bishop  of  Ross  a  few  days  later  he  wrote 
more  in  detaih  "  We  are  to  yield  in  everything,"  he 
said,  "  and  receive  humbly  at  English  hands  what  they 
please  to  give  us.  It  breaks  my  heart  to  see  us  at 
this  point  that  Englishmen  may  give  us  law  as  they 
will.  I  understand  by  your  letter  that  the  Duke  of 
Norfolk  is  at  liberty,  which  is  the  best  news  I  have 
heard  this  twelve  months  ;  and  unless  it  had  been  the 
Queen  of  Scots'  restitution,  or  that  the  Queen  of 
England  had  gone  ad  Patres,  ye  could  not  have  sent 
me  any  word  whereat  I  would  have  been  more  glad. 
I  hope  to  God  since  that  has  come  to  pass,  the  rest 
shall  follow  shortly.  When  ye  write  the  Queen  of 
England  gives  you  good  words,  ye  do  well  to  make 
semblant  to  believe  her,  and  to  hope  for  goodness  at 
her  hands,  but  on  my  peril  in  your  heart  trust  never 
word  she  speaks,  for  ye  shall  find  all  plain  craft  with- 
out true  meaning.  Always  continue  in  the  treaty 
until  the  untruth  appears  of  itself.  You  desire  my 
opinion  what  is  to  be  answered  to  the  demand  of  the 
Prince,  some  of  the  nobility  for  hostages,  and  the  cas- 
tle of  Dumbarton.  I  will  write  you  frankly  what  I 
think.  The  Queen  of  Scots  is  in  the  Queen  of  Eng- 
land's hands,  and  I  think  she  intends  never  with  her 
good-will  to  part  from  her,  and  therefore  to  satisfy  other 
princes  proposes  the  harder  conditions  which  she 
thinks  shall  be  refused.  It  is  for  the  Queen  of  Scots 
hard  to  deliver  her  son  in  England,  and  it  is  hard  for 

1  Maitland  to  the  Queen  of  Scots,  August  9 :  MSS.  Mary  Queen  of 
Scots,  Bolls  House. 


1570.]  The  Reign  of  Elizabeth.  101 

Scotland  to  have  our  principal  strengths  in  the  hands 
of  England.  Yet  rather  than  the  Queen  of  Scots 
should  remain  still  a  prisoner,  the  conditions  cannot  be 
so  hard  that  at  length  I  would  stick  upon  to  recover 
her  liberty ;  for  if  that  point  were  once  compassed, 
other  things  may  be  helped  again  with  time.  It  is 
well  done  for  the  Queen  of  Scots  to  make  difficulty 
that  the  Prince  be  delivered  in  England,  because  it 
will  let  the  people  of  Scotland  see  that  she  is  careful 
of  him.  Yet  for  the  matter  itself  I  see  no  sik  danger 
in  it,  neither  for  preservation  of  his  person  nor  yet  for 
peril  may  thereafter  follow  to  the  Queen  of  Scots  her- 
self by  setting  up  of  him  against  her,  that  I  would  ad- 
vise her  to  refuse  it  in  the  end.  Those  that  are  ene- 
mies to  her  title  in  England  would  rather  destroy  her 
person  than  his,  because  he  is  but  a  bairn,  and  the 
succession  of  his  body  is  far  off;  but  her  person  is  the 
mould  to  cast  more  bairns  in  ;  so  long  as  she  is  safe 
they  will  never  press  to  destroy  him  ;  besides  that,  I 
think,  having  interest  to  the  title  after  her,  his  nomi- 
nation among  them  shall  further  it  with  the  people. 

"  Besides,  if  she  were  once  at  liberty,  I  fear  not 
that  means  shall  be  found  to  make  both  England  and 
Scotland  loth  to  enterprise  far  against  her.  I  speak  all 
to  this  end,  that  in  any  wise  her  liberty  be  procured 
whatsoever  the  conditions  be  ;  press  it  to  the  best,  but 
if  we  fail  we  must  accept  the  worst.  As  I  write  of 
the  Prince  I  mean  of  Dumbarton.  It  is  not  the  being 
of  Dumbarton  in  English  hands  that  will  more  thrall 
Scotland  to  England,  than  Berwick  may  do  without 
Dumbarton  ;  nor  yet  may  Dumbarton  keep  Fi-cnch- 
men  or  strangers  out  of  Scotland  if  the  Queen  of  Scots 
desire  them  ;  for  she  being  at  home,  Leitli,  any  part 
of  Fife,  Dundee,  Aberdeen,  and  briefly  all  the  coast 


102  History  of  England.  [Ch.  xix. 

of  Scotland,  will  serve  that  turn  as  well  as  Dumbarton 
can  do.  Yield  as  little  as  ye  may,  but  yield  to  all 
rather  than  she  remain  a  prisoner,  because  I  think  her 
life  always  in  danger  in  medio  nationis  pravce.  You 
write  of  a  secret  purpose  touching  the  Queen  of  Scots' 
escape.  I  pray  you  beware  with  that  point,  for  albeit 
I  would  be  content  to  be  banished  Scotland  all  the 
days  of  my  life  to  have  the  Queen  of  Scots  obtaining 
liberty  without  the  Queen  of  England's  consent,  for 
the  great  uncourtesy  that  she  hath  used  unto  her, 
rather  than  have  it  with  her  consent  and  I  the  best 
earldom  in  Scotland  between  hands,  because  I  would 
she  might  be  even  with  the  Queen  of  England,  yet  I 
dare  not  advise  her  Majesty  to  press  at  it  without  she 
be  well  assured  there  be  no  kind  of  danger  in  execut- 
ing of  her  enterprise.  I  fear  deadly  the  craft  of  her 
enemies  that  will  not  stick  to  set  out  some  of  them- 
selves to  make  her  Majesty  offers  to  convey  her  away, 
and  let  her  see  probability  to  give  her  courage  to  take 
it  in  hand,  and  then,  they  being  privy  to  it,  to  trap  her 
in  a  snare,  and  so  to  execute  against  her  person  their 
wicked  intentions,  which  now  for  fear  of  the  world  and 
shame  of  other  princes  they  dare  not  do.  Save  her 
life  whatever  ye  do,  and  sure  I  am  God  with  time  shall 
bring  all  other  things  to  pass  to  our  contentment.  But 
that  point  lost  can  never  be  recovered,  and  then  all  is 
gone."  ^ 

When  this  letter  was  read  by  Elizabeth  and  Cecil 
it  was  made  evident  to  them  at  once,  that  not  a  single 
scheme  of  revenge  or  ambition  was  intended  to  be  se- 
riously abandoned,  and  that  for  all  the  oaths  that  might 
be  sworn,  the  French  and  Spanish  armies  were  to  be 
introduced  into  Scotland  at  the  first  opportunity. 
1  Maitland  to  the  Bishop  of  Ross,  August  17 :  MSS.  Queen  of  Scots. 


1570.]  TJie  Reign  of  Elizabeth.  103 

As  yet,  however,  and  conscious  of  her  own  sincerity, 
Ehzabeth  was  able  to  half  persuade  herself  that  Mary 
Stuart  was  weary  of  conspiracy,  and  was  willing  to 
remain  quiet  till  she  herself  was  dead.  The  Queen  of 
Scots'  protestations  were  incessant.  She  forever  said 
that  she  had  some  mysterious  secret  which  she  was 
longing  to  communicate,  but  Avould  only  reveal  in  per- 
son. Elizabeth  did  not  believe  her,  yet  did  not  utterly 
disbelieve  her  ;  and  —  a  sufficient  proof  that  she  was 
serious  about  the  treaty  —  she  appointed  no  less  a  per- 
son than  Cecil  to  go  to  Chatsworth  to  negotiate  with 
her.  To  the  smooth  letter  she  replied  in  a  tone  which 
even  Maitland  could  not  accuse  of  insincerity  :  — 

"  You  have  caused  a  rebellion  in  my  realm,"  she 
said,  "  and  you  have  aimed  at  my  own  life.  Yov;  will 
say  you  did  not  mean  these  things.  Madam,  I  would 
I  could  think  so  poorly  of  your  understanding  and 
could  lay  your  fault  on  your  want  of  knowledge.  You 
say  that  yovi  desire  to  heal  the  wounds  which  you  have 
caused.  Well,  I  send  two  of  my  Council  to  you  who 
know  all  my  mind.  I  am  not  influenced  by  the  men- 
aces of  France.  Those  who  would  work  upon  me 
through  my  fears  know  but  little  of  my  character. 
You  tell  me  you  have  some  mystery  which  you  wish 
to  make  known  to  me.  If  it  be  so,  you  must  write  it. 
You  are  aware  that  I  do  not  think  it  well  that  you  and 
I  should  meet.  I  trust  you  will  give  me  cause  to  for- 
get your  faults.  God  knows  how  welcome  that  would 
be  to  me."  ^ 

With  the  utmost  art  Elizabeth  could  have  scarcely, 
counterfeited    language  which,  if  she  meant    ^  ^  ^ 

^       &  '  October. 

well  and  honourably,  would  have  expressed 

1  Elizabeth  to  the  Queen  of  Scots,  September  17.    Abridged.  —  Teulet, 
Vol.  II.  p.  406. 


104  History  of  England.  [Ch.  xix. 

better  what  ouo-ht  to  have  been  her  feellnor.  She 
would  not  see  the  Queen  of  Scots  herself.  It  was  not 
without  misgiving  that  she  trusted  even  Cecil  within 
the  reach  of  her  fascinations.  No  one  perhaps  except 
Knox  had  escaped  from  an  encounter  with  this  extraor- 
dinary woman  altogether  uninfluenced.  Not  a  spell 
of  subtlest  glamoury  would  be  left  untried  on  Cecil ; 
and  it  was  impossible  to  forget  that  he  was  going  into 
the  presence  of  a  person  whom  disease  or  accident 
might  make  at  any  moment  his  titular,  perhaps  his 
reigning  sovereign.  Both  the  Queen  and  Lady  Len- 
nox warned  him  at  his  parting  not  to  be  "  won  over," 
and  his  confident  promises  scarcely  reassured  them.^ 

The  Bishop  of  Ross  and  Sir  Walter  Mildmay  ac- 
companied him. 

"  The  Bishop  of  Ross,"  wrote  Don  Guerau,  "  sends 
me  word  by  one  of  his  servants  that  he  will  return  in 
a  week  and  tell  me  what  his  mistress  will  do.  I  know 
for  certain  that  the  Duke  of  Anjou  is  a  suitor  for  her 
hand,  and  that  she  is  not  disinclined  to  accept  him. 
But  her  English  friends  do  not  like  it,  and  your  Maj- 
esty may  believe  that  I  do  not.  The  Catholics,  your 
Highness  is  aware,  are  also  against  her  marriage  with 
the  Duke  of  Norfolk,  not  being  assured  that  he  is  a 
Christian.  The  Earl  of  Arundel  and  Lord  Lumley 
undertake,  however,  that  the  Duke  will  submit  to  the 
Holy  See,  and  for  the  sake  of  a  Crown  perhaps  he  will 
do  anything  good  or  bad.  He  has  been  cool  about 
the  marriage  lately,  but  it  seems  that  he  will  take  it 
up  again,  especially  as  he  expects  to  be  shortly  restored 
fully  to  liberty.  Your  Majesty  will  instruct  me  how 
to  act.     The  release  of  the  Queen  of  Scots   and  her 

1  Lady  Lennox  to  Cecil,  October  5 :  MSS.  Queen  of  Scots.    La  Mothe, 
Depeches,  October  16. 


1570.]  Tlie  Reign  of  Elizabeth.  105 

marriage  in  a  good  quarter  will  bring  with  it  the  res- 
toration of  religion  and  the  consequent  settlement  of 
the  Low  Countries.  I  hold  myself,  as  your  Majesty 
commands,  at  the  disposition  of  the  Duke  of  Alva. 
The  Bishop  of  Ross  tells  me  that  if  his  mistress  may 
depend  on  assistance  from  us,  she  will  remain  where 
she  is ;  if  not,  she  will  agree  to  the  treaty."  ^ 

1  Don  Guerau  to  Philip,  October  15  and  October  25 :  MS.  Simancas. 


106  History  of  England.  [Ch.  xx. 


CHAPTER  XX. 

While  the  political  and  religious  passions  of  the 
English  nobility  were  increasing  in  heat  and  intensity, 
the  economical  condition  of  the  Commons  was  slowlv 
improving.  The  social  convulsions  which  accompanied 
the  earlier  stages  of  the  Reformation  had  settled  down. 
The  state  papers  are  no  longer  crowded  with  com- 
plaints of  the  oppression  of  the  poor.  The  people 
could  again  be  trusted  with  arms  without  fear  that 
they  would  use  them  against  the  landowners.  The 
interruption  of  trade  with  the  Low  Countries  permitted 
the  yeoman  once  more  to  drive  his  plough  over  the 
pastures  from  which  he  had  been  expelled  by  the 
sheep-owners,  and  the  prices  of  wages  and  food  had 
satisfactorily  adjusted  themselves.  The  Flemings,  who 
had  crowded  across  the  Channel  in  tens  of  thousands, 
brought  with  them  their  arts  and  industries,  and  while 
the  fine  ladies  and  gentlemen  still  looked  to  the  East 
for  the  silks  and  satins  in  which  they  fluttered  round 
Elizabeth,  the  artisans,  the  labourers,  and  the  farmers 
were  clothed  from  the  looms  which  had  been  brought 
from  Ghent  and  Bruges  to  their  own  doors.  But  the 
recovered  prosperity  was  partial  ;  the  experiment  of 
the  mart  at  Hamburgh  had  been  tolerably  successful ; 
but  the  English  merchants  and  sailors  were  tempted 
from  legitimate  trade  by  the  more  profitable  occupa- 
tion of  privateering,  and  in  the  14th  year  of  Elizabeth, 
the  burden  of  all  the  vessels  in  the  kinadom  which 


Ch.  XX.]  TJie  Beign  of  Mizabeth.  107 

were  engaged  in  ordinary  commerce  scarcely  exceeded 
50,000  tons.^  The  largest  merchantman  which  sailed 
from  the  port  of  London  was  no  bigger  than  a  modern 
colher  briff.^  In  the  harbours  of  Devonshire  and 
Cornwall  there  were  but  a  hundred  and  fifty  vessels 
of  all  kinds  pursuing  any  lawful  calling,  and  the  most 
considerable  of  them  would  have  appeared  small  by 
the  side  of  a  common  channel  coasting  schooner.  At 
a  time  when  an  unarmed  ship  could  escape  from 
pirates  in  the  open  water  only  by  being  too  worthless 
to  be  seized,  the  English  sailors  eschewed  a  calling 
which  was  as  dangerous  as  it  was  inglorious. 

It  was  fortunate  for  Elizabeth  that  another  occupa- 
tion was  open  to  them,  that  the  sea-going  portion  of 
her  subjects  were  those  in  whom  the'  ideas  of  the  Ref- 
ormation had  taken  the  deepest  root,  and  that  the 
merchant  therefore  could  change  his  character  for  that 
of  the  buccaneer  with  the  approval  of  his  conscience 
as  well  as  to  the  advantage  of  his  purse. 

The  Catholic  spirit  was  naturally  strongest  where  the 
people  were  least  exposed  to  contact  with  strangers. 
In  the  Midland  and  Northern  Counties,  where  the 
feudal  traditions  lingered,  the  habits  were  unaltered 
and  the  superstitions  undispelled.  The  customs  by 
which  old  English  country  life  had  been  made  beauti- 
ful —  the  festivals  of  the  recurring  seasons,  the  church 
bells,  the  monuments  of  the  dead,  the  roofless  aisles  of 
the  perishing  abbeys  —  all  were  silent  preachers  of  the 
old  faith  and  passionate  protests  against  the  new;  while 
for  good  and  evil,  peer  and  peasant,  knight  and  yeo- 
man, were  linked  together  in  the  ancient  social  organi- 

1  The  exact  figures  are  50,926.  List  of  vessels  trading  from  all  parts  of 
England,  1572:  Domestic  AfSS.  Rolls  House. 

2  240  tons.  —  MS.  Ibid. 


108  History  of  England.  [Ch.  xx. 

sation  which  thus  survived  unbroken.  In  sharp  con- 
trast, the  merchant  of  the  seaport  was  driven  by  his 
occupation  to  comprehend  and  utihse  the  knowledge 
which  was  breaking  upon  mankind.  To  him  to  live  by 
custom  was  bankruptcy  and  ruin.  Unless  he  could 
grow  with  the  times,  unless  he  could  distinguish  fact 
from  imagination,  and  laws  of  natiu'e  from  theories  of 
faith,  he  was  left  behind  in  the  race  by  keener  and  less 
devout  competitors.  It  was  no  longer  enough  for  him 
to  christen  his  ship  by  the  name  of  a  saint,  and  pray  to 
Paul  or  Peter  to  brino;  it  safe  to  harbour.  Peter  had 
enough  to  do  to  save  his  own  bark  in  the  tempest 
which  was  raging,  and  had  no  leisure  to  listen  to  the 
seaman's  orisons.  The  stars  were  now  the  mariner's 
patrons,  and  the  tables  of  longitude  and  latitvide  were 
his  Liturgy.  The  sun  and  moon  pointed  the  road  to 
him  to  the  Pearl  Islands  and  gleaming  gold  mines  of 
the  New  World,  and  he  looked  out  on  nature  and  the 
world,  on  God  and  man,  and  all  things  in  earth  and 
heaven,  with  altered  and  open  eyes.  When  driven 
fi'om  legitimate  trade,  the  English  merchants,  instead 
of  flying  at  the  Government  as  the  Spanish  Ambassa- 
dor had  hoped,  flew  upon  the  spoils  of  those  who  forced 
them  to  abandon  it.  They  swarmed  out  over  the 
world,  treating  it  like  Pistol,  as  the  oyster  which  their 
sword  would  open.  Their  rights  were  in  their  cannon, 
their  title  to  their  booty  in  their  strength  to  win  it. 
Careless  of  life  and  careless  of  justice  as  Alva's  war- 
riors themselves,  they  were  their  fit  antagonists  in  the 
great  battle  between  the  dying  and  the  rising  creeds. 

But  there  was  another  form,  quieter,  purer,  nobler 
far,  in  England,  in  which  the  new  ideas  were  develop- 
ing themselves,  and  that  was  Puritanism.  The  Church 
of  England  was  a  latitudinarian  experiment,  a  contriv- 


Ch.  XX.]  TJie  Reign  of  Elizabeth.  109 

ance  to  enable  men  of  opposing  creeds  to  live  together 
without  sheddino;  each  others'  blood.  It  was  not  in- 
tended,  and  it  was  not  possible,  that  Catholics  or  Prot- 
estants should  find  in  its  formulas  all  that  they  re- 
quired. The  services  were  dehberately  made  elastic ; 
comprehending  in  the  form  of  positive  statement  only 
what  all  Christians  agreed  in  believing,  while  oppor- 
tunities were  left  open  by  the  rubric  to  vary  the  cere- 
monial accordino;  to  the  taste  of  the  cono;regations. 
The  management  lay  with  the  local  authorities  in  town 
or  parish :  where  the  people  were  Catholics  the  Catho- 
hc  aspect  could  be  made  prominent ;  where  Popery  was 
a  bugbear,  the  people  were  not  disturbed  by  the  obtru- 
sion of  doctrines  which  they  had  outgrown.  In  itself 
it  pleased  no  party  or  section.  To  the  heated  contro- 
versialist its  chief  merit  was  its  chief  defect.  Besides 
the  Queen  there  were  perhaps  half  a  dozen  prominent 
people  in  England  who  had  intelhgence  enough  to  esti- 
mate the  real  value  of  forms  and  doctrines  ;  the  pas- 
sions which  the  Chm'ch  was  intended  to  check  neces- 
sarily heaved  under  its  surface  ;  but  the  scandals  and 
controversies  which  were  incessantly  bursting  out 
should  be  regarded  rather  as  an  evidence  of  what  the 
country  would  liave  been  without  the  Establishment 
than  as  indicating  that  the  Establishment  itself  was  un- 
suited  to  the  end  for  which  it  was  constituted. 

Conscience,  Elizabeth  never  wearied  of  proclaiming, 
was  unmolested  ;  every  English  subject  might  tliink 
what  he  pleased.  No  Inquisition  examined  into  the 
secrets  of  opinion  ;  and  before  the  rebellion  no  ques- 
tions were  asked  as  to  what  worship  or  what  teaching 
might  be  heard  within  the  walls  of  private  houses. 
The  Protestant  fanatics,  who  had  from  time  to  time 
attempted  prosecutions,  were  always  checked  and  dis- 


110  History  of  England.  [Ch.  xx. 

couraged  ;  and  unless  the  laws  were  ostentatiously  vio- 
lated, the  Government  was  wilfully  blind.  Toleration 
w^as  the  universal  practice  in  the  widest  sense  which 
the  nature  of  the  experiment  permitted  ;  and  if  it  was 
now  found  necessary  to  draw  the  cords  more  tightly, 
the  fault  was  not  with  Elizabeth  or  her  ministers,  but 
with  the  singular  and  uncontrollable  frenzy  of  theol- 
ogy, which  regards  the  exclusive  supremacy  of  a  pe- 
cuHar  doctrine  as  of  more  importance  than  tlie  Deca- 
logue. 

It  has  been  seen  that  the  Catholics  at  the  beginning 
of  the  reign  applied  to  Rome  for  permission  to  attend 
the  English  service.  Their  request  was  considered 
and  refused,  and  their  duties  to  the  Church  and  to  the 
Crown  beino;  thus  forced  into  collision,  the  more  de- 
vout  among  them  became  rapidly  infected  with  disloy- 
alty The  outward  submission  of  the  clergy  at  Eliza- 
beth's accession  is  not  to  be  construed  into  a  real  or 
even  pretended  approval  of  the  changes  which  were 
then  reintroduced.  They  had  hoped  for  a  time  that 
the  Liturgy  w^ould  have  received  the  sanction  of  the 
Pope,  and  had  England  consented  to  submit  to  the 
Holy  See,  that  sanction  might  have  been  the  price  of 
the  compromise.  But  many  of  them,  when  the  hope 
passed  away,  reconciled  tliemselves  to  the  Catholic 
communion  and  sued  for  absolution  for  their  unwillincf 
apostasy.  Noblemen  who  at  first  had  attended  the 
parish  churches,  no  longer  appeared  there.  The  pub- 
lication of  the  Bull  precipitated  the  reaction,  and 
thenceforward  no  one  could  pretend  to  be  a  sincere 
Catholic  without  at  the  same  time  declaring  himself 
a  traitor.  "  The  people  of  Lancashire  refused  utterly 
to  come  any  more  to  divine  service  in  the  English 
tongue."     Lord  Derby  forbade  the  further  use  of  the 


Ch.  XX.]  The  Reign  of  Elizabeth.  Ill 

Liturgy  in  liis  private  chapel.^  Grindal,  who  had  been 
appointed  Arcli bishop  of  York,  found  on  arriving  at  his 
diocese  that  "  the  gentlemen  "  were  "  not  affected  to 
godly  religion."'  They  observed  "  the  old  fasts  and 
holidays."  "  They  prayed  still  on  their  strings  of 
beads."  In  London  he  had  been  chiefly  troubled  with 
the  overstraight  Genevans.  In  the  North  he  was  in 
another  world.^  Disguised  priests  flitted  about  like 
bats  in  the  twilight,  or  resided  in  private  houses  in 
"  serving  men's  apparel."  Corpse  candles  were  lighted 
again  beside  the  coffins  of  the  dead,  while  "  clerks  and 
curates  "  sang  requiems  at  their  side.  In  other  parts 
of  England  ecclesiastical  officials,  "  nusselled  in  the 
Canon  Law,"  recommenced  the  iniquities  of  the  spirit- 
ual courts,  "  maintaining  the  Pope's  authority,"  "  pro- 
pounding questions  at  the  visitation  and  sessions,'"  "  re- 
buking the  Protestant  preachers,"  "  encouraging  or 
winking  at  persons  accused  of  Papistry,  never  giving 
them  a  sharp  word."  They  "  provoked  the  people  to 
blaspheme  God,  and  ministered  occasion  to  sedition  ;  " 
and  again  with  the  doctrines  they  brought  back  the 
pleasant  practices  of  the  good  old  times  —  commuting 
penances  for  money,  compounding  for  moral  enormi- 
ties, and  gi-inding  the  widow  and  the  orphan  by  their 
fees  and  extortions.^ 

1  The  Bishop  of  Carlisle  to  Sussex,  October  16,  1570:  MSS.  Border. 

2  Grindal  to  Cecil,  August  29. 

8  "Appeals  in  causes  of  reformation  of  life  are  daily  committed  in  the 
Arches,  and  prosecuted  there  contrary  to  the  express  law  of  the  decretals, 
and  thereby  notorious  faults  left  unreformed  and  the  ollcndcrs  covered  or 
justified,  contrary  to  Cod's  Holy  AVord.     As  for  example; 

"Mrs.  Xeamcs  of  Woodnesborough,  a  woman  not  only  of  evil  life  her- 
self, but  also  a  broodmother  of  others,  and  James  Augustine  of  Staplchurst, 
who  had  deflowered  two  maids  and  got  them  with  child.  These  twain 
being  heinous  ofilnders,  and  of  the  diocese  of  Canterbury,  were  Justilied 
and  restored  to  tlieir  liomish  honesty  again  by  the  Arches. 

"Louis of  Sommcrby,  having  deflowered  two  mriids  and  got  them 


112  History  of  England.  [Ch.  xx. 

The  reaction  was  especially  marked  in  Norfolk  and 
Suffolk.  An  incipient  rebellion  had  been  smothered 
there ;  but  the  Duke  was  passionately  loved  by  the 
people,  who  were  described  as  being  "  wildly  minded." 
Protestantism  had  been,  as  usual,  injudicious,  when 
judgment  was  particularly  required.  The  services  in 
Norwich  Cathedral  "  had  been  denuded  of  all  which 
could  savour  of  Babylon."  "  Certain  of  the  prebenda- 
ries "  had  changed  the  administration  of  the  Sacrament, 
pauperized  the  ceremonial,  broken  down  the  organ, 
and,  so  far  as  lay  in  them,  had  turned  the  quire  into 
a  Genevan  conventicle.^  Where  the  tendencies  to 
Rome  were  strongest,  there  the  extreme  Reformers 
considered  themsetves  bound  to  exhibit  in  the  most 
marked  contrast  the  unloveliness  of  the  purer  creed. 
It  was  they  who  furnished  the  noble  element  in  the 
Church  of  England.  It  was  they  who  had  been  its 
martyrs  ;  they  who,  in    their  scorn    of  the  world,    in 


with  child,  appealed  to  the  Arches  and  is  not  reformed  but  restored  to  his 
Eomish  priestly  iniquity  again. 

"  Baker  of  Bury,  in  Suffolk,  who  was  taken  with  another  man's  wife,  by 
appeal  tirst  to  the  Arches  and  then  to  the  Delegates,  is  by  them  justified 
and  not  reformed. 

"  Appeals  in  cases  of  controversy  between  party  and  party,  contrary  to 
both  law  and  equity,  do  pass,  whereby  the  judges,  advocates,  and  proctors 
do  much  enrich  themselves  and  bm-den  and  weary  the  poor  people. 

"The  enormities  and  abuses  of  spiritual  judges  in  extorting  money  with 
the  corrupt  dealing  of  Chancellors  and  Commissaries.  It  is  to  be  noted 
further  of  Archdeacons  who  savour  of  Rome  and  favour  not  good  religion, 
they  abusing  their  authority  do  more  harm  than  any  preacher  doth  profit 
in  divine  sermons,  partly  by  severe  handling  the  preachers  and  sometimes 
by  cruel  threatenings,  withdrawing  the  people  from  God's  Word  and  keep- 
ing them  in  doubt  in  matters  of  faith.  In  the  late  visitation  at  Norwich 
very  few  preachers  escaped  without  an  open  rebuke  at  the  lawyers'  hands. 
Neither  was  any  Papist  reformed  or  touched  with  any  sharp  word."  — 
Abuses  in  the  Canon  Law,  1569,  1570:  MSS.  Boviestic.  Endorsed  in 
Cecil's  hand. 

1  The  Queen  to  the  Bishop  of  Norwich,  September  25 :  MS.  Ibid.  Cecil's 
hand. 


i£70.]  The  Reign  of  Elizaheih.  113 

their  passionate  desire  to  consociate  themselves  in  life 
and  death  to  the  Almighty,  were  able  to  rival  in  self- 
devotion  the  Catholic  saints.  But  they  had  not  the 
wisdom  of  the  serpent,  and  certainly  not  the  harmless- 
ness  of  the  dove. 

Had  they  been  let  alone  —  had  they  been  unhar- 
assed  by  perpetual  threats  of  revolution  and  a  return 
of  the  persecutions  —  they,  too,  were  not  disinclined  to 
reason  and  good  sense.  A  remarkable  specimen  sur- 
vives, in  an  account  of  the  Church  of  Northampton,  of 
what  Eno-lish  Protestantism  could  become  under  fa- 
vourino;  conditions.  Under  the  combined  management 
of  the  Bishop  of  Peterborough  and  the  Mayor  and 
Corporation  of  the  city,  the  laity  and  clergy  of  North 
amptonshire  worked  harmoniously  together.  On  Sun 
days  and  holydays,  the  usual  services  were  read  from 
the  Prayer-book.  In  the  morning  there  was  a  sermon  ; 
in  the  afternoon,  when  prayers  were  over,  the 
"youth"  were  instructed  in  Calvin's  Catechism.  On 
Tuesdays  and  Thursdays,  a  "  lecture  of  Scripture  " 
was  read,  with  extracts  from  the  Liturgy,  and  after- 
wards there  was  a  general  meeting  of  the  congrega- 
tion,  with  the  Mayor  in  the  chair,  for  "  correction  of 
discord,  blasphemy,  whoredom,  drunkenness,  or  of- 
fences against  religion."  On  Saturdays,  the  ministers 
of  the  different  neighbourhoods  assembled  to  compare 
opinions  and  discuss  difficult  texts  ;  and  once  a  quarter 
all  the  clergy  of  the  county  met  for  mutual  survey  of 
their  own  general  behaviour.  Offences  given  or  taken 
were  mentioned,  exj)lanations  heard,  and  reproof  ad- 
ministered when  necessary.  Communion  was  held 
four  times  a-year.  The  clergyman  of  each  parish  vis- 
ited from  house  to  house  during  the  preceding  fort- 
night, to  prepare  his  flock.     "  The  table  was  in  the 

VOL.  X.  8 


114  History  of  England.  [Ch.  xx. 

body  of  the  church,  at  the  far  end  of  the  middle 
aisle  ;  "  and  while  the  people  were  communicating, 
"  a  minister  in  the  pulpit  read  to  them  comfortable 
scriptures  of  the  Passion." 

From  these  arrangements  it  is  clear  that  the  Gene- 
van element  preponderated,  but  there  follows  a  re- 
markable proof  that  even  Calvinism,  when  left  to  it- 
self, did  not  necessarily  imply  "  ecclesiastical  despot- 
ism." The  congregation  of  Northampton,  "  as  a  con- 
fession of  faith,"  "  accepted  Holy  Scripture  as  the 
Word  of  God,  to  be  read  alike  by  all,  learned  and  un- 
learned ;  "  but  "  they  did  condemn  as  a  tyrannous 
yoke  whatever  men  had  set  up  of  their  own  invention 
to  make  articles  of  faith  or  bind  men's  consciences  to 
their  laws  and  statutes ;  they  contented  themselves 
with  the  simplicity  of  the  pure  Word  of  God  and  doc- 
trine thereof,  a  summary  abridgment  of  which  they 
acknowledo;ed  to  be  contained  in  that  Confession  of 
Faith  used  by  all  Christians,  commonly  called  the 
Creed  of  the  Apostles."  ^ 

The  fury  of  the  times  unhappily  forbade  the  main- 
tenance of  this  wise  and  prudent  spirit.  As  the  pow- 
ers of  evil  gathered  to  destroy  the  Church  of  England, 
a  fiercer  temper  was  required  to  combat  with  them, 
and  Protestantism  became  impatient,  like  David,  of 
the  uniform  in  which  it  was  sent  to  the  battle.  It 
would  have  fared  ill  with  England  had  there  been  no 
hotter  blood  there  than  filtered  in  the  sluffo-ish  veins 
of  the  ofiicials  of  the  Establishment.  There  needed 
an  enthusiasm  fiercer  far  to  encounter  the  revival  of 
Catholic  fanaticism  ;  and  if  the  young  Puritans,  in  the 
heat  and  glow  of  their  convictions,  snapped  their  traces 

1  Order  of  the  services  in  the  Church  of  Northampton,  June  5,  1571: 
MSS.  Domestic,  Rolls  House. 


1570]  TJie  Reign  of  Elizabeth.  115 

and  flung  off  their  harness,  it  was  they,  after  all,  who 
saved  the  Church  which  attempted  to  disown  them, 
and  with  the  Chui'ch  saved  also  the  stolid  mediocrity 
to  which  the  fates  then  and  ever  committed  and  com- 
mit the  o;overnment  of  it. 

In  the  months  which  followed  the  suppression  of 
the  Northern  rebellion,  the  peace  of  Cambridge  was 
troubled  by  the  apparition  of  a  man  of  genius. 
Thomas  Cartwright,  now  about  thirty-five  years  old, 
liad  entered  at  St.  John's  in  1550.  He  left  the  Uni- 
versity during  the  Marian  persecution,  and  kept  terms 
as  a  law  student  in  London.  He  returned  on  the  ac- 
cession of  Elizabeth,  became  a  Fellow,  and  continued 
in  residence,  till  the  Vestment  Controversv  of  1564 
sickened  him  for  a  time  with  Eno;lish  theoloffv,  and  he 
went  over  to  Geneva.  In  Calvin's  atmosphere  he  I'e- 
covered  his  spirits,  came  back  to  Cambridge,  and  by 
some  accident  was  appointed  Margaret  Professor  of 
Divinitv.  Cartwrin;ht  was  no  doubt  at  this  time  a 
questionable  occupant  of  an  English  ecclesiastical  of- 
fice. He  was  at  the  age  when  men  of  noble  and  fiery 
natures  are  impatient  of  unrealities.  He  had  been 
ordained  deacon,  but  he  had  come  to  understand  that 
the  so-called  "  Holy  Orders,"  in  their  transcendental 
sense,  were  things  of  the  past.  He  destroyed  his  li- 
cence. The  sole  credentials  of  a  teacher  which  he 
consented  to  recognise  were  the  intellect  and  spirit 
which  had  been  receiv^ed  direct  from  God ;  and  Cecil, 
as  Chancellor  of  the  University,  Avas  beset  with  com- 
plaints of  the  wild  views  which  the  Margaret  Professor 
was  sproafling  among  the  students.  Pluralities  and 
non-residence,  those  comfortable  stays  and  supports  of 
the  University  dignitaries,  he  denounced  as  inn)ious, 
and  the  Spiritual  Courts  "  as  damnable,  devilish,  and 


'( 


116  History  of  England.  [Ch.  xx. 

detestable."  "Poor  men,"  he  said,  "did  toil  and 
travel,  and  princes  and  doctors  licked  up  all.  He 
maintained  that  those  who  held  offices  should  do  the 
duties  of  those  offices  ;  that  high  places  in  the  Com- 
monwealth belonged  to  merit,  and  that  those  who 
without  mei'it  were  intruded  into  authority  were 
thieves  and  robbers."  In  short,  he  professed  the  old 
creed  with  which  all  noble-minded  men  from  the  be- 
ginning have  entered  into  life  —  the  old  creed,  of 
which  they  find  in  the  end  that  the  smallest  homoeo- 
pathic element  is  the  most  that  mankind  will  absorb. 

Whitgift,  then  master  of  Trinity,  afterwards  Arch- 
bishop of  Canterbury,  and  Elizabeth's  "  httle  black 
parson,"  soon  sent  up  to  the  Court  special  charges 
against  Cartwright.  He  had  said  that  Archbishop  and 
Archdeacon  should  be  abolished  in  name  and  office, 
and  that  Bishops  and  Deacons  should  be  recalled  to 
the  Apostolic  pattern.  Bishops  should  be  elected 
only  by  the  Church,  and  ministers  were  only  minis- 
ters when  called  to  a  spiritual  charge.  To  kneel  at 
the  Communion  he  had  called  a  feeble  superstition. 
Unless  opinions  like  these  could  be  put  down,  it  ap- 
peared to  the  Heads  of  Houses  at  Cambridge  that  all 
authority  in  Church  and  State  would  be  overthrown.^ 

Occupied  at  the  time  with  serious  matters,  Cecil  was 
unable  for  a  time  to  comprehend  the  nature  of  Cart- 
wright's  offence.  He  wrote  to  the  Board  that  he 
could  see  nothing  in  his  conduct  which  could  be  called 
improper.  The  professor  appeared  simply  to  have 
been  giving  his  pupils  the  result  of  his  own  studies  of 
the  New  Testament.  "  Until  further  orders  could  be 
taken,"  it  would  be  well  if  he  did  not  touch  on  the 

1  W.  Chaterton  to  Cecil,  June  2;  Whitgift  to  Cecil,  November  7, 1570: 
MSS.  Domestic. 


1570.]  Tlie  Reign  of  Elizabeth.  117 

disputed  topics ;  but  beyond  this  recommendation 
Cecil  declined  to  go.^ 

Had  Cecil's  temperance  been  imitated  at  the  Uni- 
versity, moderation  might  have  produced  moderation. 
The  vouno-est  man  of  o-enuine  ability  is  never  inac- 
cessible  to  reason,  and  had  Cartwright  been  treated 
discreetly  he  would  have  become  himself  discreet. 
But  the  opinion  of  a  statesman  weighed  nothing  with 
the  men  who  rroverned  Cambridfje.  The  Professor  was 
suspended,  and  his  influence  became  ten  times  greater 
than  before.  Though  the  lecture-room  was  closed  to 
him,  the  pulpits  were  free.  He  had  but  to  open  his 
lips  there  and  his  word  was  absolute.  He  denounced 
the  unfortunate  vestments.  The  next  dav,  all  the 
students  but  three  in  Trinity  appeared  in  chapel  with- 
out their  surplices.  It  was  too  much.  Cartwright 
was  deprived  of  his  Fellowship  and  expelled  from  the 
University. 

Of  all  types  of  human  beings  who  were  generated 
by  the  English  Reformation,  men  like  Whitgift  are  the 
least  interestino;.  There  is  somethino;  in  the  constitu- 
tion  of  the  Establishment  which  forces  them  into  the 
administration  of  it ;  yet,  but  for  the  statesmen  to 
whom  they  refused  to  listen,  and  the  Puritans  whom 
they  endeavoured  to  destroy,  the  old  religion  would 
have  come  back  on  the  country  like  a  returning  tide. 
The  Puritans  would  have  furnished  new  martyrs  ;  the 
statesmen,  through  good  and  evil,  would  have  watched 
over  liberty  :  but  the  High  Church  clergy  would  have 
slunk  back  into  conformity,  or  dwindled  to  their 
profx'r  insignificance.  The  covmtry  knew  its  interests, 
and  their  high-handed  intolerance  had  to  wait  till  more 

1  Cecil  to  the  A'ice-Chancellor  and  Heads  of  Houses,  August  3:  MSS. 
DomesUc. 


118  History  of  England.  [Ch.  xx. 

quiet  times ;  but  tliey  came  back  to  power  when  tlie 
chances  of  a  Cathohc  revolution  were  buried  in  the 
wreck  of  the  Armada;  and  they  remained  supreme  till 
they  had  once  more  wearied  the  world  with  them,  and 
brought  a  King  and  an  Archbishop  to  the  scaffold. 

These  petty  troubles,  however,  fertile  as  they  were 
of  mischief  in  the  future,  were  of  small  importance 
by  the  side  of  the  immediate  pressing  perils.  Nestled 
in  the  heart  of  England  lay  the  bosom  serpent,  as 
Walsingham  called  the  Queen  of  Scots,  with  the  long- 
ing eyes  of  the  English  nobles  fastened  upon  her  as 
their  coming  deliverer.  There  she  lay,  deserving,  if 
crime  could  deserve,  the  highest  gallows  on  which 
ever  murderer  swung,  yet  guarded  by  the  mystic  sanc- 
tity of  her  birth-claim  to  the  Crown. 

Cecil  has  not  left  on  record  the  impression  which 
Mary  Stuart  made  upon  him  when  he  saw  for  the  first 
time  the  object  of  so  many  years'  anxiety.  It  was  not 
then  as  when,  seventeen  years  later,  those  two  once 
more  encountered  each  other,  when  compromise  was 
dreamt  of  no  longer,  and  long-lingering  justice  was 
claiming  its  own  at  last.  What  to  do  with  her  at 
present,  and  till  the  times  were  ripe  for  the  sharp  rem- 
edy of  the  axe,  might  well  try  the  strongest  intelli- 
gence. England,  north  and  south,  was  trembling  on 
the  edge  of  a  second  rebellion.  The  Duke  of  Norfolk 
had  been  released  from  the  Tower,  on  renewinir  his 
promise  "  to  deal  no  more  in  the  matter  of  the  Queen 
of  Scots."  A  second  time  he  sent  a  copy  of  his  bond 
to  the  very  person  with  whom  he  was  pledging  him- 
self not  to  communicate,  meaning  bad  faith  from  the 
first,  as  the  Bishop  of  Ross,  who  was  in  his  confidence, 
admitted.^       The    turn    which    affairs   might   take  in 

1  Confession  of  the  Bishop  of  Ross,  1571:  Murdin. 


1570.]  The  Reign  of  Elizabeth.  119 

France  was  still  far  from  certain.  If  the  Admiral  was 
received  at  Court,  the  peace  might  lead  to  war  with 
Spain,  or  the  project  might  yet  be  revived  for  the  mar- 
riage of  Anjou  and  the  Queen  of  Scots  ;  ^  while  engage- 
ments, guarantees,  promises  —  all  the  pledges,  whether 
made  by  the  Queen  of  Scots,  by  the  Court  of  Paris, 
or  by  any  or  every  person  who  became  security  for  the 
observance  of  the  treaty  —  could  be  brushed  away  like 
a  cobweb  by  the  all-powerful  representative  of  St. 
Peter.  Cecil  well  knew  that  he  Avas  walkino;  on  a  thiii  ^ 
crust  with  the  lava  boihng  under  his  feet.  Whether 
the  crust  was  hardening,  or  whether  the  fire  was  eat- 
ing its  way  through,  time  alone  could  tell  him.  The 
Queen  of  Scots  had  sent  the  copy  of  the  articles  pro- 
posed to  her  to  Brussels  and  to  Paris.  She  had  looked 
for  an  instant  interference,  and  both  she  and  her 
friends  were  "  dismaved  and  angered "  at  Alva's 
seeming  coldness.  Arundel,  Norfolk,  Maitland,  and 
even  La  Mothe,  now  advised  her  to  accept  the  best 
terms  which  she  could  obtain,  if  only  she  could  recover 
her  freedom.  They  believed  that  they  would  be  able 
to  compel  Elizabeth  to  go  through  with  the  treaty  on 
her  part,  if  no  difficulty  was  raised  by  the  Queen  of 
Scots  herself. 

In  this  spirit  therefore  she  received  Cecil  at  Chats- 
worth,  followino;  Maitland's  advice,  and  fio-htino;  over 
the  details  of  the  proposals  which  were  made  to  her. 
She  showed   considerable   adroitness  in   qualifying  or 

1  On  the  -Slst  of  August  Sir  Ilenn'  Xorris  -wrote  that  it  was  feared  the 
King,  after  lulling  the  Admiral  into  a  false  security,  would  destroy  him  and 
his  friends.  Anjou,  "  whose  haughty  mind  could  not  be  restrained  within 
a  younger  brother's  portion,"  was  looking  to  England  and  Mary  Stuart  to 
provide  him  with  a  kingdom  and  a  wife;  and  Norris  wanud  tiie  Queen 
that  she  must  stand  upon  her  guard  if  she  wished  France  to  make  fair 
•weather  with  her.  —  Norris  to  Elizabeth,  MSS.  France. 


120  History  of  England.  [Ch.  xx. 

altering  uncomfortable  phrases.  In  a  clause  for  the 
punishment  of  Darnley's  murderers  she  introduced 
the  words  "according  to  the  laws  of  the  Realm,"  in- 
tending, as  a  marginal  note  in  Cecil's  hand  indicates, 
to  shelter  Bothwell  still  behind  his  previous  acquittal. 
She  was  willino;  to  bind  herself  to  do  nothino;  for  the 
future  in  prejudice  of  the  Queen  of  England  or  her 
issue  ;  but  she  inserted,  as  a  marginal  note  again  men- 
tions, "  with  no  good  and  honourable  meaning,"  the 
word  "  lawful  "  —  making  the  phrase  "  lawful  issue," 
as  if  Elizabeth  might  produce  issue  which  would  not 
be  lawful. 

Yet,  on  both  sides,  there  appeared  a  willingness  to 
come  to  terms.  Cecil  was  ready  to  soften  violent  ex- 
pressions. The  Queen  of  Scots  did  not  insist  on  her 
exceptions,  which  were  introduced,  perhaps,  because 
they  were  in  keeping  with  her  character,  and  because 
too  much  readiness  to  make  concessions  might  increase 
Cecil's  suspicions.  In  manner  he  treated  her  with  the 
respect  due  to  a  princess  who  might  soon  be  his  own 
sovereign  ;  while  on  her  part,  as  Elizabeth  foresaw,  she 
exerted  her  utmost  power  of  fascination  to  win  and 
charm  him.  It  Avas  an  encounter  of  wit  in  which  each 
was  trying  to  gain  an  advantage  over  the  other. 

"  The  Queen  of  Scots,"  wrote  the  Bishop  of  Ross 
^  ,  ,  in  a  letter  which  fell  afterwards   into  Cecil's 

October. 

hands,  "  hath  dealt  with  Mr.  Secretary  in 
such  sort  that  he  hath  promised  to  be  her  friend.  He 
likes  well  of  her  nature.  He  promises  to  travail  that 
she  and  the  Queen  of  England  shall  speak  together, 
and  hath  given  his  counsel  how  she  should  behave  her- 
self in  that  case  to  win  the  Queen  of  England's  favour. 
He  has  spoken  to  me  of  the  Queen  of  Scots'  marriage 
by  way  of  conference,  seeming  to  persuade  that  she 


1570.]  The  Reign  of  Elizabeth.  121 

will  many  with  the  Earl  of  Angus  ;  but  I  have  de- 
clared plainly  that  she  will  never  marry  a  Scottish- 
man.  He  hath  told  me  secretly  he  could  hke  well  of 
the  Duke  of  Norfolk's  marrying  her,  but  now  is  no 
time  to  speak  of  it.  He  saith  that  the  Queen  of  Eng- 
land fears  that  the  Queen  of  Scots  and  Norfolk  would 
wax  arrogant  in  that  case ;  but  yet  he  thinks  that  this 
surety  that  she  makes  to  the  Queen  of  England  shall 
put  away  that  fear  and  so  the  matter  may  be  followed. 
I  think  he  may  be  made  to  labour  for  that  marriage  if 
Norfolk  do  cause  employ  him ;  and  in  the  meantime  I 
will  deal  as  of  myself  to  knit  the  knot  of  sure  friend- 
ship between  Norfolk  and  him,  for  he  shows  himself 
very  plain  to  me  in  many  things."  ^ 

By  arts  which  the  circumstances  justified,  Cecil  evi- 
dently had  wound  himself  into  the  partial  confidence 
both  of  the  Queen  of  Scots  and  of  her  minister. 
They  had  tempted  his  loyalty  and  fell  into  their  own 
snare,  and  he  had  discovered  thus  much  at  least  that 
the  marriage  which  Norfolk  had  professedly  ceased  to 
think  of  was  still  in  steady  contemplation.  At  the 
end  of  a  fortnight  he  returned  to  London,  and  the  two 
parties  in  Scotland  were  requested  to  send  up  their 
respective  commissioners  without  further  delay.  The 
representatives  of  the  Queen  were  immediately  ready. 
Lord  Livingston  and  the  Bishop  of  Galloway  were  se- 
lected to  act  with  the  Bishop  of  Ross.  The  Regent 
and  his  friends,  who  had  persuaded  themselves  that 
the  danger  was  passing  over,  were  in  despair.  They 
again  reminded  Elizabeth  of  her  promises  at  Westmin- 
ster. "  They  said  that  they  were  so  amazed  and  as- 
tonished that  they  knew  not  what  counsel  to  take." 

1  MS.  endorsed    in  Cecil's  hand,  "  The  Bishop  of  Ross  to  the  Duke  of 
Norfolii,"  October  11 :  MSH.  Mary  Queen  of  Scots. 


122  History  of  England.  [Ch.  xx. 

"  Surety  there  could  be  none,"  they  said,  "  either  for 
themselves  or    England,  if  the    Queen  of  Scots  was 
restored."     Douglas  of  Lochleven  swore  he  would  not 
keep    the    Earl    of    Northumberland    a   prisoner    any 
longer  to  please  Elizabeth.     Randolph  applied  for  his 
recall,  "  finding  his  credit  clean  decayed,"  and  his  old 
friends  "  alienated  and  clean  gone  from  her  Majesty's 
service."     They  talked  again  of  revolting  to  France. 
They  said  "  they  would  reconcile  themselves  secretly 
with  their  own  Queen."  ^     Instead  of  commissioners 
to  treat,  they  sent  up  the  Commendator  of  Dumferm- 
line  to  conjure  Elizabeth,  in  the  name  of  honour,  jus- 
tice, and  prudence,  to  reconsider  what  she  was  doing. 
The  agitation  produced  no  apparent  change  in  Eliz- 
abeth's resolution.     She  said  that  she  did  not  mean  to 
do  anything  unjust ;   she  was  wilHng  to  listen  to   the 
Reo-ent's  objections  ;  but  "  unless  he  could  fortify  his 
cause  with  such  evident  reasons  as  her  Majesty  might 
with  conscience  satisfy  herself  and  with  honour  answer 
to  the  world,"  the   treaty  for  the   restitution  must  go 
forward. 

In  the  meantime,  however,  a  negotiation  was  in 
secret  progress  which,  if  successful,  might  obtain  a 
more  favourable  hearing  for  Lennox's  remonstrances. 
The  peace  was  concluded  in  France,  between  the 
Court  and  the  Huguenots,  on  the  10th  of  August. 
As  is  usually  the  case  after  civil  convulsions,  a  desire 
naturally  arose  to  heal  the  internal  wounds  of  the 
country  by  "  removing  the  war  elsewhere."  Whether 
England  or  Spain  was  to  be  the  object  of  hostility,  de- 
pended on  whether  the  Catholics  lost  or  retained  their 

1  Lennox  to  Elizabeth,  October  16 ;  Randolph  to  Sussex,  October  16 ; 
Randolph  to  Cecil,  November  13;  Sussex  to  Cecil,  November  18:  MSS, 
Scotland. 


1570.]  TJie  Reign  of  Elizaheih.  12o 

hold  over  Charles  and  Catherine.  On  the  one  side 
they  might  attempt  the  release  of  Mary  Stuart  and 
her  marriage  with  the  Duke  of  Anjou  ;  on  the  other 
the  recollections  of  St.  Quentin  still  rankled  ;  in  alli- 
ance with  Elizabeth  and  the  Prince  of  Orange,  France 
might  appear  as  the  champion  of  liberty  and  expel  the 
Spaniards  from  the  Low  Countries.  To  ascertain 
which  of  these  tendencies  was  likely  to  pre- 

"^  I  November. 

vail,  a  young  statesman  of  supreme  ability 
was  despatched  on  a  special  mission  to  the  French 
Court.  The  early  history  of  Francis  Walsingham  is 
almost  a  blank  :  he  was  born  at  Chiselhurst  in  Kent, 
in  what  year  is  uncertain,  nor  is  anything  known  of 
the  occupation  or  station  in  life  of  his  parents.  He 
was  at  Cambridge  during  the  Marian  persecution,  and 
to  escape  conformity  took  refuge  in  Germany,  but  for 
the  ten  years  after  he  returned  to  England  nothing 
was  publicly  heard  of  him.  A  note  from  him  on  the 
murder  of  Darnley,  however,  in  November  1568,  shows 
that  by  that  time  he  had  been  admitted  into  Cecil's 
confidence.  He  had  been  selected  for  the  delicate 
duty  of  watching  the  Italian  Kidolfi  during  the  North- 
ern rebellion,  and  when  he  was  appointed  minister  at 
Paris,  La  ]\Iothe  was  able  to  warn  the  Court  there 
tliat  no  ordinary  man  was  coming  among  them. 

The  direct  instructions  which  Walsincrham  carried 
over  were,  to  express  Elizabeth's  satisfaction  at  the 
peace,  and  her  hope  that  the  toleration  now  promised 
to  the  Huguenots  would  be  faithfully  observed  :  ^  should 
the  war  break  out  again,  a  general  Protestant  league 
would  be  the  necessary  consequence  ;  the  Queen  of 
England  would  be  compelled  to  take  part  in  it,  and  all 

1  Instructions  to  Walsingham,  August  11:  Digges's  Complete  Ambassa- 
dor.   Compare  La  Mothe,  August  14. 


124  Histonj  of  England.  [Cn.  xx. 

the  force  which  she  could  command  would  be  exerted 
in  the  cause.  Beyond  this  simple  message  the  new 
ambassador  was  left  to  his  own  discretion,  to  feel  his 
way  at  the  Court  and  report  on  what  he  found. 

Mary  Stuart  and  her  cause  created  scarcely  less 
embarrassment  in  Paris  than  in  London.  Lord  Seton's 
mission  to  the  Duke  of  Alva  had  excited  the  most  vio- 
lent displeasure.  A  revolution  in  England  in  Spanish 
interests  was  a  catastrophe  of  which  the  very  thought 
was  unendurable,  while  a  permanent  league  between 
England  and  Scotland,  and  the  education  of  the  Prince 
at  the  Court  of  Elizabeth,  was  almost  equally  distaste- 
ful. The  Royal  Family  was  divided.  Anjou  was  rest- 
ive and  ambitious.  He  had  distinguished  himself  in 
the  war,  he  was  discontented  with  his  position  as  a 
subject,  and  he  had  liked  well  the  adventurous  pros- 
pect held  out  to  him  in  England.  At  the  instigation 
of  the  Cardinal  of  Lorraine,  he  thought  of  directly 
proposing  for  Mary  Stuart's  hand,  and  it  was  supposed 
that  although  she  was  binding  herself  by  the  most  sol- 
emn engagements  not  to  think  of  him,  her  promises 
would  be  no  obstacle  to  her  acceptance  of  his  over- 
tures.^ Jealous  of  his  brother's  schemes,  and  afraid 
that  with  his  popularity  among  the  Catholics,  Anjou  as 
Mary  Stuart's  husband  would  be  dangerous  to  himself, 
Charles  said  significantly  to  Sir  Henry  Norris  that  if  he 
were  the  Queen  of  England,  and  had  the  Queen  of 
Scots  in  his  hands,  he  knew  what  he  would  do  with 
her.^     A  far  different  project  for  the  Duke  of  Anjou, 

1  "  Tras  esto  se  cierto  que  el  Duque  de  Anjou  ha  de  enviar  uii  criado 
suyo  a  hablar  con  la  dicha  Reyna  de  Eseocia,  y  saber  si  su  voluntad  seria 
de  casarse  con  ^1.  Podra  ser  que  la  Reyna  no  viniese  mal  en  ello,  pero  a, 
la  mayor  parte  de  los  Ingleses  por  ahora  no  les  aplace,  ni  a  rai  tan  poco." 
Don  Guerau  to  Philip,  October  15:  MS.  Simancas. 

2  "  Si  je  la  tenois  prisonniere,  ou  que  je  fusse  en  lieu  de  la  Royne  d' An- 
gleteiTe,  je  sfais  bien  ce  que  je  ferais."  —  Norris  to  Cecil,  October  29  ■.  MSS. 
France, 


1570.]  The  Reign  of  Elizabeth.  125 

if  the  Duke  could  be  brought  to  consent  to  it,  was 
shaping  itself  in  the  minds  of  the  Huguenot  statesmen. 
Elizabeth  acjain  and  again,  in  conversations  with  La 
Mo  the  Fenelon,  had  reverted  to  her  own  marriage. 
She  regretted  to  him  that  she  had  let  so  much  time  go 
by.  She  was  afraid  to  face  the  Parliament  which  her 
necessities  would  soon  oblige  her  to  call,  with  her 
promises  still  unfulfilled,  the  succession  still  uncertain, 
and  the  means  of  settlino;  it  farther  off  than  ever.  Sir 
Henry  Cobham  had  been  sent  to  Maximilian  to  tempt 
the  Archduke  to  renew  his  suit,  but  he  had  received  a 
cold  answer  ;  the  game  at  trifling  at  Vienna  had  been 
played  out  and  lost.i  Already,  however,  another  pro- 
posal had  been  submitted  to  the  Queen's  consideration. 
The  Vidame  of  Chartres  and  the  Cardinal  of  Chatil- 
lon  suo-o-ested  that  she  should  cut  the  knot  of  her  diffi- 
culties,  secure  France,  and  snatch  at  least  one  danger- 
ous lover  from  her  rival  by  taking  Anjou  for  herself. 
The  Duke,  it  was  true,  was  but  twenty,  while  she  was 
thirty-seven,  but  she  might  still  hope  for  children,  and 
the  political  advantages  to  the  Protestant  cause  in  Eu- 
rope might  compensate  for  greater  incongruities.  How 
Elizabeth  received  the  idea  when  first  laid  before  her 
is  not  known.  Five  years  previously  she  might  have 
married  Charles,  but  she  had  then  revolted  from  the 
absurdity  ;  she  was  now  offered  his  younger  brother, 
and  it  is  only  clear  that  her  answer  was  not  wholly  un- 
favourable. A  few  weeks  later  Chatillon  wrote  to 
Anjou.  Anjou  spoke  to  his  mother,  and  Catherine, 
taken  it  seemed  by  surprise,  enquired  at  length  of  La 
Mothe  the  meaning  of  a  movement  so  unexpected. 
Elizabeth,  she  said,  had  played  with  so  many  proposals, 
had  encouraged  suitor  after  suitor,  and  had  abandoned 

1  La  Mothe,  October  30:  DdjKches,  Vol.  III. 


126  History  of  England.  [Ch.  xx. 

them  one  after  the  other  with  so  httle  scruple,  that  the 
very  mention  of  her  marriage  now  provoked  a  smile. 
The  Royal  Families  of  Europe  did  not  like  to  be  made 
ridiculous,  and  the  Queen  Mother  did  not  conceal  her 
belief  that  the  present  overture  was  but  another  trick 
to  escape  from  a  pressing  embarrassment.  But  she 
had  no  objection  to  the  English  alliance.  She  had 
heard  of  Catherine  Grey ;  she  imagined  that  Lord 
Hertford  was  dead  and  that  she  was  a  widow. 
This  lady  she  thought  the  Duke  might  very  well 
marry,  and  Parliament  would  then  perhaps  entail  the 
crown  upon  Lady  Catherine  and  her  son.  She  knew 
vaguely  that  Cecil  was  interested  in  the  Grey  family. 
She  desired  La  Mothe  to  tell  him  that  if  he  could 
bring  about  this  alhance,  he  might  secure  the  gratitude 
of  France,  and  his  own  continued  supremacy  in  the 
direction  of  the  policy  of  England.^ 

La  Mothe  was  obliged  to  tell  her  that  Catherine 
Grey  was  beyond  the  reach  of  diplomatic  schemings. 
Elizabeth  herself,  however,  continued  to  allude  to  the 
subject  of  her  own  marriage.  Her  husband,  she  said, 
if  ever  she  took  a  husband,  should  belong  to  one  of  the 
reigning  families  of  Europe  ;  and  at  last  she  directly 
mentioned  the  Duke  to  La  Mothe  as  a  person  on 
whom  her  mind  had  been  resting.  La  Mothe  was 
still  unable  to  believe  her  serious  ;  he  suspected,  like 
the  Queen  Mother,  that  she  was  trying  merely  to  sep- 
arate France  from  the  Queen  of  Scots  or  create  jeal- 
ousies between  France  and  Spain.  Two  papers  upon 
the  subject  however,  written  by  Cecil  in  December  and 
January,  before  the  French  Court  had  seriously  enter- 
tained the  proposal,  survive  to  prove  that  at  least  he 
and  probably  his  mistress  had  taken  up  the  thought  in 
earnest. 

1  Catherine  de  Medici  to  La  Mothe,  October  20:  Dep^ches,  Vol.  VII. 


1570.]  The  Reigyi  of  Elizabeth.  127 

"  That  the  Queen,  unless  she   married   some  one, 
would  lose  her  throne,  was  assumed  by  Cecil 

,  December. 

as,  humanly  speaking,  certain.  If  she  let  the 
age  pass  unimproved  within  which  she  could  hope  for 
children,  "  she  would  be  in  danger  of  such  as  by  devil- 
ish means  might  be  tempted  to  desire  her  end."  "  If 
God  in  His  goodness  preserved  her  from  murder,  yet 
she  would  be  in  danger  to  lose  daily  the  loyal  duty  and 
the  love  which  was  borne  her  by  her  subjects."  "  She 
could  not  live  forever."  "  Those  who  had  possessions 
and  families  must  necessarily  foresee  for  the  preserva- 
tion of  themselves  and  their  children  after  their  death." 
They  would  determine  in  their  own  minds  who  must 
succeed  her,  and  to  this  person,  "  at  first  secretly,  and 
then  in  process  of  time  more  boldly,  they  would  direct 
their  devotions,  and  so  have  less  regard  of  the  continu- 
ance and  preservation  of  her  Majesty."  Conduct  of 
this  kind  was  to  be  looked  for  from  loyal  subjects,  and 
besides  these  were  the  crowd  of  persons  who  already  for 
one  reason  or  another  "  grudged  and  misliked  the  con- 
tinuance of  her  Majesty's  life,  and  were  therefore  ready 
always  to  assist  in  any  innovation  by  practice,  rebellion. 


or  invasion." 


"  The  Queen  would  thus  become  gradually  conscious 
that  she  was  disliked  and  neglected."  She  would  have 
no  one  on  whom  she  could  rely,  and  "  finding  no  rem- 
edy to  recover  the  affections  of  her  people  for  lack  of 
marriage  and  children,  she  would  have  a  perpetual  tor- 
ment in  life." 

"  On  the  other  hand,  if  she  married,  though  she  might 
have  no  cliildren,  there  would  long  be  the  possibility 
of  children.  The  people  could  still  cling  to  tiiu  hope 
that  the  crown  would  remain  in  the  line  of  King 
Henry  VIII.,"  "  and  the  curious  and  dangerous  ques- 


128  History  of  England.  [Cm.  xx. 

tion  of  the  succession  would  in  the  minds  of  quiet  sub- 
jects be  as  it  were  buried  —  a  happy  funeral  for  all 
England."  Disloyal  noblemen  would  cease  to  specu- 
late on  the  Queen  of  Scots'  marriage ;  discontented 
rebels  and  Papists  would  forbear  to  practise  with  foreign 
princes ;  and  "  should  God  give  to  the  realm  the 
blessing  of  issue  of  the  Queen's  Majesty,  the  joy  would 
be  so  great  to  good  subjects  and  the  grief  so  great  to 
the  evil,  that  her  Majesty  would  see  as  it  were  a  new 
life  in  the  hearts  and  bodies  of  her  loyal  people,  and 
the  evil  and  frowai'd  would  put  on  the  likeness  of  the 
good.  Her  Majesty  would  have  no  reason  to  fear  the 
marriage  of  the  Queen  of  Scots,  as  now  she  had  great 
cause  to  do,  nor  any  practice  of  troubles  in  the  realm, 
nor  any  need  of  maintaining  an  armed  watch  upon  ad- 
joining kingdoms." 

"  Marriage  then  being  thus  infinitely  desirable,  whom 
should  the  Queen  choose  ?  Should  she  marry  a  foreign 
prince  ?  Should  she  in  fact  marry  the  Duke  of  An- 
jou  ?     The  objections  were  to  be  noted  first. 

"  The  Duke  was  scarcely  more  than  a  boy,  his  char- 
acter was  unknown,  and  was  perhaps  unformed.  He 
had  appeared  so  far  to  be  more  a  Catholic  than  a  Prot- 
estant. Being  a  Fi-enchman  he  would  be  unwelcome 
to  the  English  people,  and  the  alliance  would  complete 
the  estrangement  with  the  House  of  Burgundy.  If 
there  were  children,  and  if  the  Kino-  of  France  were 
to  die,  the  two  crowns  would  fall  to  one  person  ;  if 
there  were  none,  the  Duke  with  his  brother's  help 
might  encroach  upon  the  crown  —  by  colour,  perhaps, 
of  gift  from  the  Pope  —  or  finally,  if  there  were  no 
children  and  the  Queen  of  Scots  remained  unmarried, 
her  Majesty's  life  might  be  prematurely  shortened. 
Some  insinuation    might   light   into    the   heart  of  the 


1570.]  The  Reign  of  Elizabeth.  129 

Duke  to  attain  the  marriage  of  the  Scottish  Queen, 
whereby  to  continue  in  possession  of  the  Crown  of 
England,  and  so  conjoin  the  three  kingdoms  in  his  own 
person." 

This  was  the  unfavourable  aspect  of  the  marriage, 
but  the  medal  had  a  brilliant  reverse. 

"  The  connexion  was  princely  and  noble,"  and  would 
draw  together  the  "  two  great  realms  of  France  and 
England." 

"  The  Queen  would  be  delivered  from  the  continual 
fear  of  the  practices  of  the  Queen  of  Scots,  upon  whom 
almost  wholly  depended  the  prosperity  and  adversity 
of  her  Majesty's  whole  life  and  reign."  "  The  King 
of  Spain  would  no  more  torture  and  imprison  English 
subjects."  "  The  Pope's  malice,  with  his  Bulls  and 
excommunications,  and  the  spite  of  all  his  dependants 
as  Avell  in  England  as  abroad,  would  be  suspended  and 
vanish  in  smoke.  Ireland  would  be  no  longer  in  daily 
peril  of  revolt."  The  Duke  would  bring  a  handsome 
revenue  with  him  from  his  duchies,  and  should  he,  as 
perhaps  he  might,  "  accommodate  himself  to  the  re- 
ligion of  England,"  the  Reformed  faith  would  be  estab- 
lished in  France  and  throughout  Christendom,  "  to  the 
honour  of  the  Queen  and  the  augmentation  of  the 
glory  of  God."  In  one  form  or  another  Calais  would 
be  recovered,  and  the  expenses  of  the  Government 
would  be  reduced  on  every  side.  In  a  word,  the  result 
to  be  expected  from  the  marriage  was  a  general  return 
of  security  —  security  at  home  against  revolutions,  se- 
curity against  combinations  among  the  foreign  powers. 
The  Queen,  of  course,  could  not  be  pressed  to  accept 
the  Duke  "  till  she  had  assured  herself  of  the  qualities 
of  his  person,"  but  Cecil  so  confidently  anticipated  her 
acquiescence  that  he  recommended  rather  the  suppreS- 

VOL.  X.  9 


130  History  of  England.  [Ch.  xx. 

sion  than  the  display  of  her  feelings :  "  So  as  the 
French  Kino-  mio;ht  be  made  more  earnest  in  his  suit, 
and  the  conditions  of  the  compact  be  thus  made  more 
beneficial  to  her  Majesty  and  the  realm."  ^ 

A  marriage  with  a  princess  so  publicly  and  recently 
excommunicated  would  for  some  time  at  least  decide 
the  character  of  the  relations  between  France  and 
Rome.  An  open  quarrel  and  a  consequent  increase  of 
favour  for  the  Huguenots  appeared  certain  to  follow  ;  a 
war  for  the  liberation  of  the  Netherlands  would  come 
next ;  and  when  the  French  Government  had  once 
broken  with  the  Catholics,  there  would  be  little  danger 
of  the  darker  possibilities  which  had  suggested  them- 
selves. 

Elizabeth  at  first  diffidently,  and  afterwards  with 
seeming  frankness,  talked  about  the  marriage  to  La 
Mothe,  and  gradually  Catherine  de  Medici  shook  off 
her  suspicions  and  began  to  hope  that  Elizabeth  was  in 
earnest.  Leicester  took  credit  for  self-sacrifice  in  with- 
drawing his  own  pretensions  ;  and  when  the  subject 
was  to  be  seriously  discussed,  he  himself  introduced  the 
Ambassador  to  the  Queen's  private  room  at  Hampton 
Court. 

Elizabeth,  whom  La  Mothe  found  better  dressed  than 
usual  for  the  occasion,^  at  once  broke  the  ice.  She 
said  that  circumstances  oblio;ed  her  to  overcome  her 
reluctance  to  marry,  and  that  she  intended  to  select  a 
husband  from  one  of  the  reig;nino;  houses.  La  Mothe, 
who  knew  what  was  expected  of  him,  replied  that  if 
this  was  her  resolution,  he  commended  to  her  the  pre- 

1  Commodities  that  may  follow  from  the  marriage  with  the  Duke  of  An- 
jou,  December,  1570.  Notes  on  the  Queen's  marriage,  January  14,  1571, 
In  Cecil's  hand,  abridged:  MS8.  France,  Rolls  House. 

2  "  Oil  je  la  trouvay  mieulx  par^e  que  de  coustume."  —  La  Mothe  to  the 
Queen  Mother,  December  29. 


1571.]  The  Reign  of  Elizabeth.  131 

tensions  of  one  of  the  most  accomplished  princes  in  the 
woi'ld.  Could  he  be  the  means  of  bringing  about  a 
union  between  her  Majesty  and  the  Duke  of  Anjou,  he 
would  esteem  himself  the  happiest  of  men. 

The  Duke,  the  Queen  answered,  was  indeed  worthy 
of  far  hifrlier  honours  than  she  could  offer  him.  She 
feared,  however,  that  his  affections  must  have  been  al- 
ready centered  in  some  fairer  quarter.  She  was  her- 
self an  old  woman,  and  but  for  the  hope  of  children 
would  be  ashamed  to  think  of  marriage  ;  and  if  the 
Duke  accepted  her  she  supposed  it  would  be  rather  for 
her  realm  than  her  person.  Frencli  princes  had  a  bad 
name  for  conjugal  fidelity.  She  spoke  of  Madame 
d'Estampes  and  the  Duchesse  de  Valentinois,  and  she 
said  she  would  not  like  to  find  herself  the  wife  of  a 
man  who  miglit  respect  her  as  a  Queen  but  would  not 
love  her  as  a  woman. 

La  Mothe  protested  that  she  would  find  the  Duke 
all  that  was  most  devoted  and  all  that  was  most  de- 
servino;  of  devotion.^  He  reminded  her  that  Avhen 
she  was  once  married  she  would  find  all  her  troubles 
disappear,  and  he  partly  —  but  partly  only  —  suc- 
ceeded in  removino;  her  uneasiness.  She  said  she 
would  rather  die  than  feel  herself  unloved. 

She  was  perhaps,  however,  following  Cecil's  advice, 
and  concealing  her  own  eagerness.  The  two  Courts 
were  coquetting  Avith  each  other,  each  at  heart  most 
anxious,  and  afraid  each  of  losing  the  prize  by  grasping 
at  it  too  precipitately. 

"  The  Queen  of  England,"  reported  La  Mothe,  "  is 
one    of  those    who    will    fly  when    they  are 

•^      _  •'  January. 

sought  after.     It  is  a  peculiarity  of  the  Eng- 

1  "  II  avoit  cette  pdculi^re  qu'il  sijavoit  extremement  bien  aymer,  et  sa 
rendre  de  mesmes  parfaitement  aymable."  —  La  Mothe,  January  23. 


132  History  of  England.  [Ch.  xx. 

lisli  nation,  who  the  more  you  desire  anything  of  them 
the  more  coy  they  become,  though  what  you  ask  is  to 
their  own  advantao-e."  ^ 

Till  the  middle  of  Januaiy  the  negotiation  was  kept 
a  profound  secret,  Leicester  and  Cecil  alone  sharing 
the  Queen's  confidence.  The  preliminary  stages,  how- 
ever, being  got  over,  and  the  good-will  ascertained  on 
both  sides,  an  indirect  proposal  was  made  by  Charles 
which  it  became  necessary  to  submit  to  the  Council. 

No  stronger  proof  could  have  been  given  of  the 
desirableness  of  the  marriage  than  the  dismay  with 
which  the  mention  of  it  was  received.  On  Arundel 
and  Arundel's  friends,  on  the  party  of  the  Duke  of 
Norfolk  and  the  Queen  of  Scots,  on  the  adherents  of 
the  House  of  Burgundv,  and  the  intriguers  for  a  Cath- 
olio  revolution,  it  fell  like  a  thunderstroke.  La  Mothe 
argued  and  reasoned,  but  to  no  purpose.  If  such  a 
marriage  as  this  could  be  brought  about  in  the  teeth 
of  the  excommunication,  the  cause  of  the  Catholic 
Church,  the  Church  of  the  Council  of  Trent,  the 
Church  of  fanaticism,  the  Church  of  Alva  and  Philip 
and  the  Cardinal  of  Lorraine,  would  be  lost  forever. 
Scene  after  scene  followed  of  violence  and  passion. 
The  extreme  Protestants  suspected  Anjou  for  his  ante- 
cedents. The  English  traditionary  prejudices  were  set 
on  fire,2  At  length  Elizabeth  summoned  all  her  min- 
isters into  her  presence,  and  said  with  tears  in  her  eyes 
that  they  and  only  they  were  to  blame  for  the  break- 
ing off  her  marriage  with  the  Archduke  Charles.  It 
was  they  who  had  caused  her  to  offend  the  King  of 
Spain.  It  was  they  who  had  made  the  troubles  in 
Scotland,  and  but  for  her  own  prudence  they  would 
have  involved  her  equally  in  a  quarrel  with  France. 
1  La  Mothe,  January  23.  2  ibid.,  February  6. 


1571.]  The  Reign  of  Elizabeth.  1C3 

Now  at  this  supreme  crisis  of  her  life,  she  implored 
them  not  to  fail  her.  A  marriage  with  the  Duke  of 
Anjou  would  open  a  road  out  of  all  her  perplexities, 
and  those  who  set  themselves  against  it  were  bad  sub- 
jects  and  enemies  of  the  realm.^ 

With  the  discussions  at  the  Council  the  world  was 
of  course  taken  into  the  secret,  and  the  agitation  in 
France  was  as  violent  as  in  England.  The  Cardinal 
of  Lorraine  revived  the  scandals  about  Elizabeth's 
intimacy  with  Leicester,  and  frightened  Anjou  into 
believing  that  he  was  about  to  bestow  himself  upon  a 
woman  of  infamous  character.  Anjou  went  open- 
mouthed  to  his  mother,  and  Catherine  at  first  could  do 
nothing  with  him  ;  "  she  would  have  given  all  the 
blood  in  her  body,"  she  said,  "  to  draw  the  matter  out 
of  his  head,"  but  he  was  obstinate  and  talked  about 
dishonour  ;  and  Catherine,  in  despair  at  the  thought 
of  losing  her  prize,  asked  La  Mothe  whether  Elizabeth 
would  not  take  the  Duke  of  Alen9on  instead.  Alen- 
9on  was  but  sixteen  and  was  amenable  to  control.^ 

But  this  cloud  passed  off.  La  Mothe  was  able  to 
assure  the  Queen  Mother  that  the  stories  were  base- 

1  "  Entendant  les  diverges  opinions  que  cculx  de  son  conseil  avoient  \h, 
dessus,  elle  les  avoit  assemblee  pour  leur  dire,  la  larme  ii  I'ccil,  que  si  nul 
mal  venoit  a  elle,  ii  sa  couronne  et  a  ses  subjectz  pour  n'avoir  espouse 
TArchiduc  Charles,  il  deboit  ostre  impute  k  eulx  et  non  a  elle ;  qui  aussi 
estoient  cause  que  le  Roy  d'Espaigne  avoit  est^  ofTenc^,  et  quele  Royauliiie 
d'Escoce  estoit  en  armes  contre  le  sien,  et  qu'il  n'avoit  tenu  aussi  a  eulx 
que  le  Roy  n'eust  esti5  beaucoup  provoque  davantaige  ])ar  leurs  d(^porte- 
ments  en  faveur  de  ceulx  de  la  Rochellc,  si  elle  ne  les  eust  empesehez ;  dont 
les  prioit  tres  toutz  de  luj'  ayder  niaintenant  a,  rabiller  toutz  les  maulx  par 
ung  seul  moyen,  qui  estoit  de  bien  conduire  ce  party  de  Monsieur,  et 
qu'elle  tieiidroit  pour  mauvais  subject  et  ennemy  de  ce  royaulnie  ct  tres 
deloyal  a  son  service  qui  aulcunement  le  luy  traverseroit."  —  La  Motiie, 
February  C,  1571. 

2  The  Queen  Mother  to  La  Mothe,  February  2:  Dcp('clies,Yo\.  VII.  This 
singular  letter  was  written  by  Catherine  herself,  the  .subject  of  it  being  of 
too  much  consequence  to  be  trusted  to  the  most  confidential  secretary. 


184  History  of  England.  [Ch.  xx. 

less  scandals.  The  Court  was  so  pure,  and  the  Queen 
herself  was  so  much  respected  by  all  classes  of  her 
subjects,  that  it  was  impossible  to  believe  that  she  had 
misconducted  herself.^  The  Pope,  indeed,  had  lent 
his  infallibility  to  the  imputation,  and  the  Catholics,  to 
their  no  great  credit,  made  Elizabeth's  fi*ailty  an  arti- 
cle of  their  creed  ;  but  the  intelligence  of  men  of  the 
world,  who  were  on  the  spot  and  could  make  enquir- 
ies, was  not  so  piously  credulous,  and  Anjou  in  a  few 
weeks  became  as  ea2;er  for  the  marriage  as  Catherine 
herself.  A  campaign  in  Belgium  would  give  full 
scope  to  his  military  ambition  ;  it  would  employ  the 
swarm  of  soldiers  whom  the  peace  had  let  loose,  and 
the  success  w^ould  be  as  certain  as  it  would  be  easy. 
The  Prince  of  Orange  and  the  Germans  would  invade 
Holland.  Elizabeth's  fleet  would  seal  the  Channel 
against  reinforcements  from  Spain,  and  the  Royal 
family  of  France  would  be  revenged  for  the  death  of 
their  sister,  whom  they  believed,  though  without  a 
shadow  of  foundation,  that  Philip  had  murdered.^ 

Such  was  the  programme  which  had  grown  up  in 
Paris   in  connexion  with    the  English    marriage,  and 
Catherine    was    only   anxious    to    see    the  work    com- 
menced by  driving  Alva  into  the    sea.     The  Nuncio 
suggested  to  Anjou  "  that   if  England    was 

February.  ^^  •>  & 

the  mark  he  shot  at,  it  mioht    be  achieved 

1  "  De  tant  qu'eu  sa  court  Ton  ne  voyt  qu'ung  boii  ordre,  et  elle  y  estre 
bien  fort  honoree  et  ententive  en  ses  affaires,  et  que  les  plus  grands  de  son 
royaulme  et  toutz  ses  subjectz  la  craignent  et  reverent,  et  elle  ordonne 
d'eulx  et  sur  eulx  avec  pleyne  authoritt^,  j'ay  estime  que  cela  ne  pouvoit 
proc^der  de  personne  mal  fam^e,  et  oii  il  n'y  eust  de  la  vertu."— La 
Mothe,  INIarch  6. 

2  There  is  not  the  slightest  doubt  of  the  existence  of  this  conviction  both 
in  Charles  and  his  brother.  That  it  could  gain  credence  at  all  is  a  proof 
how  intense  the  national  animosity  against  Spain  continued  to  be.  —  See 
the  Despatches  of  Sir  Henry  Norris,  1570,  1571,  passim:  MSS.  France, 
Jiollc  Ilvuse. 


1571.]  The  Reign  of  EUzahetli.  135 

easily  by  the  s^YOl'd,  to  his  great  honour  and  with  less 
inconvenience  than  makino-  so  unfit  a  match."  ^  But 
Anjou's  thoughts  had  gone  off  into  another  channel 
and  could  not  for  the  moment  be  brouo;ht  back.  One 
misgiving  only  continued  to  haunt  the  Queen  Mother, 
that  Elizabeth  was  trifling  after  all,  that  she  would 
bring  the  Duke  to  the  steps  of  the  altar  and  then 
make  him  the  laughing-stock  of  Europe.  Guide  Cav- 
alcanti,  for  many  years  the  unofficial  minister  of  good- 
will between  the  two  courts,  was  again  called  into  req- 
uisition. The  Queen  Mother  sent  for  him  to  her 
bedroom  and  cross-questioned  him,  first  about  the  truth 
of  the  Leicester  scandals,  and  then  as  to  what  he 
thought  of  Elizabeth's  present  sincerity. 

On  the  first  point  Cavalcanti  answered  that  truth 
was  the  daughter  of  time.  Elizabeth  had  been  four- 
teen  years  on  the  throne  ;  the  hundred  eyes  of  Argus 
had  been  fixed  upon  her,  and  nothing  had  been  ob- 
served to  justify  "  the  false,  slanderous,  and  envious 
bruits  which  had  been  spread  to  her  dishonour  ;  there 
was  not  in  the  whole  world  a  more  noble,  virtuous,  or 
better  natui'ed  princess."  About  the  marriage  he  said 
that  he  had  every  reason,  public  and  private,  to  believe 
that  she  was  in  earnest,  and  unless  difficulties  were 
made  by  France,  the  Duke  might  be  in  England  before 
midsummer ;  but  he  su^sested  that  Lord  Buckhurst 
her  cousin  was  in  Paris,  and  could  give  her  the  fullest 
information. 

Buckhurst,  who  had  finished  the  business  which 
broucvht  him  over,^  was  on  the  point  of  re- 

»  '  1  .         March. 

turning  to  England.     The  Queen  Mother  in- 

1  Walsingliain  to  Cecil,  February  8:    Complete  Avihtssador. 

2  Sir  Thomas  Sackvillc,  first  Lord  IJin'kliiirst,  was  grandson  of  John 
Sackville  and  Margaret  IJolu^-n,  sister  of  liie  Karl  of  \\'ilt>liiri',  the  father 
of  Anne.  IJuckliurst  had  been  sent  to  Paris  to  congratulate  Charles  IX. 
on  his  man  iage. 


136  History  of  England.  [Ch.  xx 

vlted  him  before  his  departure  to  look  over  with  her 
the  gardens  which  she  was  laying  out  at  the  Tuileries, 
and  there  drawing  him  apart  under  the  trees,  she  said 
that  he  could  not  be  ignorant  of  the  contemplated 
match  ;  both  she  and  the  King,  she  told  him,  "  were 
fearfully  carried  with  mistrust  that  all  was  but  abuse 
and  dalliance,"  and  Bucldiurst  would  oblige  her  deeply 
if  he  would  tell  her  the  truth. 

Buckhurst  answered  that  as  she  had  spoken  freely 
to  him  he  would  meet  her  with  equal  openness.  The 
Queen  his  mistress  desired  above  all  things  in  the 
Avorld  that  France  and  England  should  be  drawn 
together.  As  to  the  marriage,  she  had  anticipated  that 
some  such  question  might  be  asked  him,  and  she  had 
directed  him  to  say,  "  that  for  the  benefit  of  her  realm 
and  contentation  of  her  people  she  had  finally  and 
fully  resolved  to  marry,  and  to  match  with  the  progeny 
of  a  prince  out  of  her  own  realm." 

"  Could  she  be  sure  of  this,"  the  Queen  Mother 
answered,  "  and  if  it  was  meant  in  deed  and  not  only 
in  words,  France  and  England  might  be  the  two  most 
fortunate  kingdoms  in  the  world ;  "  the  honour  of  the 
French  crown  would  be  hurt  if  Elizabeth  was  insin- 
cere, but  she  M'ould  believe  it  was  not  so  ;  and  she 
went  on  to  ask  whether  she  might  entertain  hopes  for 
her  son. 

"  His  commission,"  Buckhurst  replied,  did  not  allow 
him  to  answer  this  question,  but  "  the  Duke  being  so 
worthy  a  prince,"  and  the  benefits  to  be  expected  from 
such  an  alliance,  to  both  the  realms,  being  so  evident, 
he  thought,  as  a  private  individual,  that  if  an  ambassa- 
dor was  sent  over  to  propose  in  proper  form,  he  might 
be  sure  of  a  favourable  reception.  There  was  no  oc- 
casion, however,  for  the  Duke  "  to  hazard  his  honour," 


1571.]  The  Reign  of  Elizaheth.  137 

he  would  himself  report  the  Queen  INIother's  words  on 
his  return,  and  he  would  inform  her  on  all  points,  be- 
fore she  committed  herself  further.^   Anjou  was  young, 
supposed  to  be  brave,  and  not  without  ability.     Wal- 
singham    was    decidedly   in    favour    of  the    marriage. 
Cecil,  though  fully  conscious  of  the  objections,  thought 
them  far  outbalanced  by  the  advantages ;  and  so  many 
dangers  threatened  Elizabeth,  that    something    might 
well  be  risked  to  extricate  her.     He  drew  a  sketch  of 
the  conditions  under  which  he  considered  that  Anjou 
might  be  received.     On  the  point  on  which  the  nego- 
tiations with  the  Archduke  had  broken  down  he  was 
particularly  yielding.     "  The  Archduke  had  been  re- 
quired to  conform  to  the  Anglian  communion.     Anjou 
would  do  enough  if  he  would  accompany  the  Queen 
to  the  Royal  Chapel,  and  would  promise,  neither  di- 
rectly nor  indirectly,  "  to  attempt  the  alteration  of  the 
laws   established  "  in  the  constitution  of  the  Church. 
The  Liturgy  might  be  modified  to  make  it  palatable  to 
him.     The  prayers  could  be  said    in    Latin,  and    the 
lessons  read  in  Latin."    "  Should  there  be  any  manner 
of  prayer    or    other  thing  in  the  book  of  the  Divine 
Service  of   England   that  was  not  contained  in  Holy 
Scripture,  nor  used  in  the  service  of  the  Church  of 
France,  or  if  in  the  administration  of  the  sacraments 
there    were    things    different    from    the    usage    of  the 
Church  of  France,  neither  the  Duke  nor  his  servants 
need  use  the  same  otherwise  than  as  their  conscience 
should    persuade."       Still  further,  it  might  be  hoped 
that  in  time  the  Duke  would  conform  wholh^  to  the 
religion  of  his  adoi)ted  country,  but  until  he  Avas  per- 
suaded to  accept  it  with  good-will,  Cecil  thought  tliat 
he  might  share  the  privilege  of  the  ambassadors  of  the 

1  Lord  Buckhurst  to  Elizabeth,  March  16 :  MSB.  France. 


138  Kistory  of  England.  [Ch.  xx. 

Catholic  Powers,  and  have  a  service  of  his  own  in  a 
room  in  the  Palace."  ^ 

These  proposals  were  submitted  privately  to  the 
French  Council,  and  contained  everything  which  they 
could  reasonably  demand.  The  French  in  return  were 
ready  to  promise  that  the  Established  religion  should 
not  be  tampered  with.  The  marriage  ceremony  it  was 
thouc-ht  mio;ht  be  performed  in  the  English  form  ;  some 
prominent  members  of  the  French  Government,  eccle- 
siastics as  well  as  laymen,  could  be  present  as  witnesses, 
and  a  special  contract  to  be  provided  for  the  occasion 
would  prevent  a  question  from  being  afterwards  raised 
as  to  the  validity  of  the  rite.^ 

The  interests  of  Protestanism  would  have  been  more 
than  answered  by  these  mutual  concessions,  and  Wal- 
sino-ham  was  most  anxious  that  they  should  be  con- 
firmed and  accepted  by  the  principal  parties.  The 
Queen  iMother,  he  wrote,  intended  to  provide  for  her 
son  in  Scotland  if  not  in  England  ;  and,  "  of  all  im- 
pending perils  that  would  be  the  greatest."  ^  Leicester, 
ready  to  restore  Catholicism,  ready  to  devote  himself 
to  Philip,  to  Catherine,  to  Norfolk,  to  the  Queen  of 
Scots,  to  the  Puritans,  to  any  and  every  one  in  turn, 
as  seemed  to  suit  his  interests,  professed  to  be  particu- 
larly anxious  that  this  time  the  negotiation  should  be 
successful.  Cecil  made  up  his  mind  to  the  Duke's 
conversion,  and  saw  him  in  imagination  becoming  "  a 
professor  of  the  Gospel  ;  "  "a  noble  conqueror  of  all 
Popery  in  Christendom  ; "  while  Walsingham,  too  eager 

1  "  Reasouable  demands  to  be  required  of  Monsieur  for  the  preservation 
of  the  religion  of  England  m  credit,  and  the  Protestants  thereof  in  comfort, 
March  1571."     In  Cecil's  hand:  MSS.  France. 

2  "  Qui  res  omnes  ibidem  gestas  in  acta  secundum  formam  juris  redigere 
valeant."  — Marriage  Articles  proposed  by  France:  MS.  Ibid. 

3  Walsingham  to  Leicester,  March  9 :   Compkte  Ambassador. 


1571.]  The  Reign  of  Elizabeth.  1G9 

to  doubt  tliat  the  marriao;e  would  be  brought  about, 
•was  busy  knitting  the  political  combinations  which  were 
to  follow,  and  forming  plans  for  the  conquest  of  the 
Low  Countries.^ 

The  marriage  project,  meanwhile,  in  its  incipient 
stages,  had  not  affected  the  diplomatic  interference  of 
France    in    behalf  of  the    Queen    of  Scots. 

.       January. 

Charles  continued  to  declare,  that  unless  his 
sister-in-law  was  released  he  would  have  to  take  up 
her  cause  in  earnest.  M.  de  Virac  remained  at  Dum- 
barton with  the  Hamiltons.  La  Mothe  still  pressed 
upon  Elizabeth,  and  Elizabeth  declared  that  she  still 
intended  to  keep  her  promise.  Notwithstanding  the 
protest  of  the  Regent,  the  English  Council  resolved 
itself  into  a  commission  for  a  final  settlement.  The 
Bishop  of  Galloway  and  Lord  Livingston  came  up 
from  Chatsworth.^  They  were  well  received  by  Eliza- 
beth, and  a  svispension  of  hostilities  was  proclaimed  in 
Scotland  till  the  1st  of  April,  by  which  time  it  was 
expected  that  all  would  be  arranged.  The  proceedings 
■waited  only  for  the  appearance  of  the  representatives 
of  the  Regent;  and  the  delay  gave  opportunities  for 
informal  discussions  and  endless  intrigues.  Maitland's 
letters  were  deciphered  and  read  by  Cecil.  La  Mothe 
objected  to  the  education  of  the  Prince  in  England. 
The  threatened  occupation  of  Scotch  castles  by  English 
garrisons  was  equally  intolerable  to  him ;  and  Living- 
ston intimated  that  it  was  preposterous  to  expect  Scotch 
noblemen  to  reside  at  Elizabeth's  court  as  hostages. 
Mary  Stuart  herself  said,  that  without  some  equivalent 
she  would  not  relinquish  the  Fi'ench  alliance  and  forfeit 

1  Cecil  to  Wal.singham,  March  25;  "Walsingham  to  Cecil,  April  5:   Com- 
plete AmJjasmdor. 

2  January  14. 


140  Hhtory  of  England.  [Ch.  xx. 

her  dowry  ;  wliile  again,  new  features  of  the  Queen  of 
Scots'  misdemeanours  in  England  were  coming  perpet- 
ually to  light.  The  Bishop  of  Ross  was  pointedly  told 
that  his  mistress  should  think  less  of  marrying  Don 
John  of  Austria.  The  Bishop,  in  turn,  in- 
formed La  Mothe  that  if  the  King  of  France 
wovdd  allow  the  Queen  of  Scots  four  thousand  crowns 
a  month,  her  friends  would  reduce  Scotland  in  half-a- 
year  ;  and  Charles  answered  that  he  would  consent,  if 
the  treaty  came  to  nothing. ^ 

But  the  interference  of  France  was  contingent  on 
the  success  of  the  negotiation  for  Anjou.  Elizabeth 
knew  it,  and  her  intentions  towards  her  prisoner  varied 
with  her  disposition  towards  matrimony.  Her  mar- 
riage, when  once  completed,  would  remove  the  political 
objections  to  the  restoration ;  while,  if  she  backed  out 
of  it,  the  resentment  of  France  at  her  trifling  would 
enhance  the  dano;er  a  hundredfold. 

At  length  Lennox  consented  to  put  in  his  appear- 
ance ;  the  Earl  of  Morton  arrived  for  the  young  King, 
and  the  way  toward  a  conclusion  seemed  to  be  opened. 
But  Morton  had  not  come  to  London  with  any  such 
intentions.  The  Commission  held  its  first  sitting  on 
the  24th  of  February.  The  Earl,  instead  of  consent- 
ing to  consider  the  details  of  the  treaty,  presented  a 
passionate  remonstrance,  expressing  only  Avith  increased 
vehemence  the  objections  which  had  been  before  con- 
veved  through  the  Abbot  of  Dumfermline.  It  was 
the  old  story,  but  it  could  not  be  too  often  repeated. 
When  Morton  ceased.  Bacon  rose  to  support  him. 
"  If  the  Queen  of  Scots  was  restored,"  said  the  Lord 
Keeper,  "  in  three  months  she  would  kindle  a  fire 
which  would  wrap  the  island  in  flames,  and  which  the 

l  The  King  of  France  to  La  Mothe,  February  19 :  Depeches,  Vol.  VII. 


1571.]  The  Reign  of  Elizaheih.  l-il 

power  of  man  would  fail  to  extinguish.  If  Elizabeth 
■would  recognise  the  Prince  and  support  the  Regent,  all 
Scotland  would  instantly  be  at  her  devotion,  and  with 
Scotland  hers  she  might  defy  the  malice  of  the  world. 
His  mistress,"  he  said,  "  believed  herself  bound  by 
promises  to  the  Queen  of  Scots  ;  but  neither  the  Queen 
of  Scots  nor  her  friends  were  prepared  to  fulfil  the  con- 
ditions under  which  alone  the  restoration  could  be  con- 
templated. Without  material  securities  it  was  not  to 
be  thought  of,  and  securities  adequate  to  the  risk  did 
not  exist.  To  send  Mary  Stuart  back  to  Scotland 
•would  alienate  every  friend  which  England  possessed 
there  ;  and  as  to  the  grave  question  so  often  raised  of 
the  rights  of  subjects  and  sovereigns,  the  Queen  of 
England  had  no  concern  with  the  titles  of  the  princes 
with  whom  she  treated.  If  treaties  could  not  be  made 
till  the  right  of  every  prince  to  his  crown  was  first  as- 
certained, the  world  would  fall  in  pieces.  It  was 
enough  that  a  King  was  a  King,  and  the  fewer  ques- 
tions asked  the  better."  ^ 

Elizabeth  answered  gloomily  that  if  there  was  dan- 
ger in  restoring  the  Queen  of  Scots,  there  was  greater 
danoer  in  detaining  her.  The  Commission  was  not 
sitting  to  decide  what  was  already  determined,  but  to 
consider  the  conditions  on  which  the  venture  might  be 
made.  The  Bishop  of  Ross,  in  Mary  Stuart's  name, 
entreated  that  there  might  be  no  further  delav  :  she 
was  ready,  he  said,  to  make  every  concession  that 
might  be  thought  necessary.  The  hostages  should  be 
forthcoming,  and  the  Prince  should  be  given  up. 

La  Mothe  supported  the  Bishop,  the  general  question 
was  assumed  to  be  settled,  and  the  business  went  for- 

1  La  Mothe,  March  4,  1571.     Short  answers  to  four  principal  points,  Feb 
roaiy  24.    In  Bacon's  hand :  MSH.  Mary  Queen  of  Scots. 


142  History  of  England.  [Cn.  ::::. 

ward.  The  next  step  was  the  presentation  of  a  peti- 
tion by  the  Bishop  of  Ross,  requiring  that  the 
abdication  made  at  Lochleven  should  be  de- 
clared invalid.  Morton  said  fiercely  that  the  grounds 
on  which  the  Queen  had  been  deposed  had  been  al- 
ready examined  into,  and  were  sufficiently  well  known. 
The  Bishop  replied,  that  subjects,  whatever  their  com- 
plaints, had  no  rights  over  their  princes.  The  tribu- 
nal to  wliich  a  Queen  Regnant  was  amenable,  he  ar- 
gued, was  a  council  of  sovereigns,  who  alone  could  take 
cognisance  of  such  a  cause  ;  ^  and  he  appealed  with 
effect  to  Bishop  Jewel,  who  had  limited  Christians  "  to 
prayers  and  tears  "  when  their  princes  tyrannized  over 
them. 

The  fine  talk  did  not  affect  Morton.  He,  with  his 
life  and  fortune  at  stake,  fell  back  upon  the  facts.  The 
government  of  Scotland,  he  said,  was  established  in  the 

1  La  !Mothe,  March  12.  The  Bishop  supported  his  position  iu  a  written 
memorial  with  his  old  and  favourite  illustration. 

Except  in  special  cases,  such  as  .Jehu's,  wliich  were  not  to  be  taken  as  ex- 
amples, he  said  that  Scripture  always  enjoined  obedience  to  the  sovereign, 
even  though  "he  might  be  a  temble  tyrant."  "David  himself,  whom 
God  always  called  a  man  after  God's  own  heart,  committed  both  murder 
and  adultery,  and  yet  his  subjects,  the  .Jews,  rose  not  against  him.  But 
God  not  only  continued  his  estate,  but  also  his  sou  Solomon,  gotten  upon 
Bathsheba,  enjoyed  his  chair  and  sceptre  after  him."  "  When  God,"  he 
continued,  "  was  minded  to  trouble  the  Kings  of  Judah  for  their  sins,  he 
punished  them,  not  by  the  Jews,  but  by  the  Babylonians  and  Assyrians. 
He  punished  Saul,  not  by  David,  but  by  the  Philistines."  "  So  it  was  in 
the  time  of  shadows."  "  In  the  time  of  grace  and  truth"  the  rule  was 
made  more  clear.  "  Nero  was  an  impure  beast,"  j-et  God  nevertheless  de- 
clared that  he  was  to  be  obeyed,  not  only  for  fear  of  vengeance,  but  also  for 
conscience'  sake.  Xo  one  had  condemned  more  distinctly  "all  wicked 
detestable  rebels  that  went  about  under  colour  of  rebellion  to  banish  their 
natural  sovereign,"  than  Bishop  Jewel.  Bishop  .Jewel  had  proved  that 
whatever  the  crime  of  the  sovereign,  the  arms  of  the  Christian  "  were  but 
prayers  and  tears;  "  and  Peter  Martj'r  had  said  that  "  if  it  were  lawful  for 
the  people  to  put  down  their  Princes  that  reigned  unjustly,  no  Prince 
should  at  any  time  be  in  safety."  — Memorial  presented  by  the  Bishop  of 
Ross,  March  4:  J//SS.  Sco^fonk 


1571.]  TJie  Reign  of  Elizaheth.  143 

person  of  the  young  King.  The  cliange  of  the  son  for 
the  mother  had  been  made  for  adequate  reasons  ;  and  if 
the  Queen  of  England  forsook  him,  they  could  them- 
selves find  means  to  support  him  and  to  force  submis- 
sion on  the  disobedient. 

Remembering  the  complaints  and  entreaties  for  as- 
sistance with  which  she  had  so  long  been  besieged, 
Elizabeth  fired  up  at  these  last  words,  which,  if  they 
meant  anything,  meant  a  revolt  to  France.  "  That 
language,"  she  said  when  it  was  reported  to  her,  "  the 
Earl  of  Morton  never  brouo-ht  with  him  from  Scot- 
land  ;  it  was  put  in  his  mouth  by  some  of  my  own 
Council,  and  they  ought  to  be  hanged  outside  the 
doors,  with  the  words    hung  about  their  necks.  "  ^ 

Yet  with  Elizabeth,  also,  there  were  facts  which 
were  highly  pressing.  She  had  brought  the  Anjou 
complication  upon  herself,  and  she  must  either  marry 
him  or  else  affront  him  and  turn  him  over  with  more 
certaint}''  than  ever  to  the  Queen  of  Scots.  The  dis- 
pensation was  promised  by  the  Pope,  and  the  Duke 
was  supposed  to  have  no  objection  to  the  change. ^ 

In  such  a  situation  the  wisdom  of  one  moment  be- 
came the  folly  of  the  next.  Anger  and  vexation 
would  not  answer  arguments  or  remove  dangers,  and 
with    Leicester   forever    whispering   at    her    ear,    she 

1  "  EUe  a  diet  qu'elle  s<;avoit  que  ledict  Morton  ne  I'avoit  aportde  telle 
de  son  pays,  ains  I'avoit  aprinse  icy  d'aulcuns  de  ceulx  raesmes  dii  conseiJ, 
lesquelz  elle  vouloit  bion  dire  qu'ilz  estoient  dignes  d'estre  penduz  a  la 
porte  du  chasteau  avec  un  rollet  de  leur  advis  au  coul." — La  iMothe, 
March  12. 

2  So  La  Mothe  says  that  Walsinghani  wrote  from  Paris.  "  Le  Sieur 
Walsiiigliain  a  escript  qu'il  a  dcscouvert  ung  propos  qui  se  niT-ne  bien 
chauldeiiR-nt  jjinir  niaryer  Monsieur  le  frere  de  vostre  Majesty  avec  la 
Royne  d'Escoce  et  que  le  Pape  luy  promect  la  dispence  et  beaucoup  d'avan- 
taiges  au  nionde  en  faveur  dudict  marriage,  et  (|ue  les  choses  en  sont  si 
avant  que  mon  diet  Seigneur  promect  d'y  entendre  aus.sito.st  que  par  ce 
trett6  ladicte  Dame  sera  restituee  en  son  estat."  — Ibid. 


14J:  History  of  England.  [Ch.  xx. 

swung  to  and  fro,  now  determining  to  restore  the 
Queen  of  Scots,  now  to  marry  Anjou,  now  to  go  with 
Bacon  and  Cecil,  now  with  Arundel  and  Norfolk. 

Morton  at  last  brought  matters  to  a  crisis  by  declar- 
ing that  whatever  might  be  the  Queen's  pleasure,  he 
had  not  brought  powers  with  him  to  agree  to  the  resto- 
ration. If  she  meant  to  persist,  he  must  return  to 
Scotland  and  consult  the  Estates.  The  English  Par- 
liament  was  about  to  meet.  Elizabeth  accepted  Mor- 
ton's excuses,  and  further  discussion  was  prorogued 
indefinitely.  She  directed  Lord  Shrewsbury  to  pacify 
the  Queen  of  Scots  by  assuring  her  that  the  settlement 
of  her  affairs  was  only  postponed.  The  answer  was 
not  likely  to  be  satisfactory,  and  she  therefore  told  the 
Earl  that  he  must  "  take  good  heed  to  his  charge ;  " 
"  being  discontented,  she  would  leave  no  means  un- 
sought to  attempt  her  escape."  ^  For  the  time,  at  any 
rate,  the  Anjou  negotiation  would  ensure  the  acquies- 
cence of  the  Court  of  France,  and  if  Elizabeth  could 
but  resolve  to  marry  the  Duke,  she  might  count  upon 
their  permanent  indifference.  It  was  enough  that  she 
was  safe  for  the  moment,  and  if  time  brought  new 
complications,  it  might  bring  the  remedy  along  with 
them. 

That  Mary  Stuart  would  not  sit  down  patiently 
under  her  disappointment,  no  particular  wisdom  was 
required  to  foresee  ;  but  Elizabeth  scarcely  even  yet 
comprehended  the  energy  of  the  person  with  whom 
she  had  to  deal.  The  Queen  of  Scots  had  long  antici- 
pated that  the  treaty  would  end  in  nothing.  She 
knew  that  Cecil  was  not  a  fool,  and  she  must  have 
soon  been  undeceived  in  her  hope  that  she  had  gained 
him  over.  She  believed  Elizabeth  to  be  as  false  as 
1  Elizabeth  to  the  Earl  of  Shrewsbury,  March  24 :  MSB.  Hatfield. 


1571.]  The  Reign  of  Elizabeth.  145 

she  knew  herself  to  be,  and  before  the  Conference 
opened  she  had  written  to  the  Archbishop  of  Glas- 
gow to  bid  him  stir  the  Kino;  of  France  in  her  fa- 
Tour.^  A  few  weeks  before,  Anjou  had  all  but  pro- 
posed for  her  hand.  The  French  Court  still  pro- 
fessed the  most  ardent  desire  to  help  her,  and  La 
Mothe  appeared  to  be  working  heartily  with  the 
Bishop  of  Ross.  Suddenly,  with  overwhelming  sur- 
prise, she  learnt  that  her  false  lover  was  going  over 
to  the  English  Queen ;  that  a  marriage  between  them 
was  seriously  contemplated,  and  that  the  fault  would 
not  be  with  Charles  or  Catherine  if  Anjou  did  not 
soon  become  the  husband  of  Elizabeth.  She,  perhaps, 
might  be  kept  in  hand  as  a  reserve  card,  if  the  other 
game  was  a  failure ;  but  her  proud  blood  boiled  at  the 
indignity.  That  so  detestable  an  alternative  could  be 
even  contemplated  by  the  French  Court,  at  once  con- 
vinced her  that  it  was  idle  to  hope  that  the  Queen 
Mother  would  really  move  for  her.  She  had  been 
hitherto  embarrassed  by  the  jealousies  of  the  Great 
Powers.  Thev  would  not  act  for  her  together,  and 
if  she  threw  herself  upon  one,  she  would  offend  the 
other.  This  difficulty  was  now  at  an  end.  Her  hope, 
if  hope  she  had,  was  in  Spain  and  in  the  Pope.  To 
them  the  ill-omened  union  between  Huguenot  France 
and  Protestant  England  would  be  as  unwelcome  as  to 
herself;  and,  in  his  own  defence,  Philip  would  take  up 
her  cause  at  last. 

Stung  to  fury  by  this  unlocked  -  for  blow,  she 
watched  with  impatience  the  lingering  of  the  treaty, 
which  now  she  could  scarcely  wish  to  succeed.  She 
at  least  had  no  expectation   that  Anjou  would   come 

1  Mary  Stuart  to  the  Archbishop  of  Glasgow,  January   1 :  LabanofF, 
Vol.  III. 

VOL.  X.  10 


146        '  History  of  England.  [Ch.  xx. 

back  to  her  if  slie  were  free.  Her  friends  in  Scotland 
had  looked  to  France  to  miloose  the  meshes  of  the  ob- 
ligations into  which  they  were  about  to  enter,  and 
France,  false,  traitorous  France,  would  only  draw  the 
cords  tighter,  and  leave  her  a  slave  in  Elizabeth's 
hands. 

Alva  caught  the  alarm  like  herself.  He,  too,  had 
satisfied  himself  that  peace  in  France  meant  war  in 
the  Netherlands.  He  had  advised  Mary  Stuart  in  the 
autumn  to  consent  to  the  treaty,  but  when  he  heard 
of  the  intended  match,  he  felt  that  it  would  but  throw 
her  ao-ain  into  the  hands  of  her  rebel  subjects,  and 
that  the  chances  of  a  Catholic  revolution  would  be 
farther  off  than  ever.  She  was  recommended  to  at- 
tempt an  escape,  and  if  she  could  succeed,  to  make  her 
way  into  Spain,  where  she  could  either  marry  Don 
John,  or  wait  for  Norfolk  to  declare  himself  a  Cath- 
olic.^ 

".,  Yet  she  was  disturbed  with  seeing  that  Alva  also 
seemed  anxious  to  compound  his  quarrels  with  Eliza- 
beth. The  existing  government  of  England  was  a 
reality  to  which  the  Duke  attached  more  importance 
than  the  Catholic  refugees  desired.  The  ease  with 
which  the  Northern  rebellion  had  been  put  down, 
weighed  more  with  him  than  tabulated  statistics  on 
the  numerical  strength  of  the  disaffected.  The  un- 
flinching determination  with  which  the  Queen  main- 
tained the  privateers  seemed  to  prove  that  she  was 
confident  of  her  resources.  He  was  alarmed  with 
rumours  that  a  descent  would  be  soon  attempted, 
under  the  direction  of  Count  Louis,  on  the  islands  at 
the  mouth  of  the  Scheldt,^  and    although  insult  was 

1  Marj'  Stuart  to  the  Bishop  of  Boss,  February  8:  Labanoff,  Vol.  III. 

2  "  Aqui  tratan  do  molestar  los  Payses  Baxos,  creyendo  por  esta  via 


1571.1  The  Reign  of  Elizabeth.  147 

accumulated  on  insult,  and  injury  on  injury,  he  felt 
himself  compelled  to  smother  his  resentment,  and  en- 
deavour, by  smooth  words  and  humiliating  concessions, 
to  prevent  this  fresh  addition  to  his  embarrassments. 
His  best  chance  of  esca{)ing  a  war  with  France  was  to 
reconcile  himself  with  Eno-land.  He  understood  Eliz- 
abeth's  character  well  enouo-h  to  know  that  she  would 
never  marry  the  Duke  of  Anjou  if  she  could  help  it ; 
but  he  believed  also  that  she  mio;ht  be  driven  to  it  if 
pressed  to  extremities ;  and,  that  the  alliance  between 
England  and  France  thus  cemented,  would  be  followed 
by  the  serious  movement  against  Spain,  for  which  the 
Huguenot  chiefs  were  lono;ino;,  and  which  Walsingham 
so  enthusiastically  anticipated. 

Notwithstanding  Chapin's  failure,  therefore,  the 
Duke  of  Alva  continued  his  pacific  advances.  A  third 
time  he  sent  over  a  commissioner ;  not  a  soldier  like 
the  Marquis  of  Chetona,  but  a  member  of  the  Flemish 
Council,  Count  Schwegenhem.  The  open  object  was 
the  restitution  of  prizes  and  the  reopening  of  trade  ; 
the  private  object  was  to  separate  Elizabeth  from  the 
French  ;  and  Alva,  to  tempt  her,  made  certain  secret 
offers,  the  nature  of  which  Elizabeth  did  not  care  to 
reveal,  but  it  was  something,  she  said,  which  would 
not  a  little  have  amazed  La  Mothe.^     Count  Schwe- 

escusar  la  molestia  en  sus  Islas  y  aguardan  aqui  al  Conde  Ludovico  de 
Nassau.  Aperciben  con  tanta  artilleria  las  naves  destos  Piratas  Flamencas 
y  Inf^lesas  que  es  maravilla,  y  la  Reyna  les  ha  ofrecido  cien  pieoas,  y  las 
cuarenta  cargan  j'a  en  barcos  para  llegar  a  la  Isla  de  Huiet,  donde  M.  de  la 
Mark  se  llama  Almirante  del  Principe  de  Orange.  — Don  Guerau  to  Philip, 
October  28,  1570:  MS.  Simancas. 

This  passage  is  underlined  by  Philip  himxclf,  and  on  the  margin  is  one 
of  his  characteristic  exclamations  of  distress,  Ojo!  He  might  fairly  think 
that  he  had  not  deserved  tiiis  treatment  at  Elizabeth's  hands. 

1  "  She  told  me,"  La  Mothe  wrote,  "  que  je  serois  tons  esbahy  si  je  sfa- 
vois  quelles  choses  ledict  Due  despuys  ung  mois  avoit  voulu  trailer  avec 
elle  au  jjrejudice  de  ses  voysins."  — La  Mothe,  January-  23. 


148  History  of  England.  [Ch.  xx. 

genhem,  however,  went  the  way  of  his  predecessors. 
The  details  of  his  pubhc  proposals  were  quarrelled 
over.  The  cargoes  of  the  detained  ships  had  been 
sold  on  both  sides.  The  Duke  had  taken  advantage 
of  a  rise  of  prices  in  the  Flanders  markets,  caused 
by  the  suspension  of  trade,  to  dispose  of  some  English 
wool  at  a  large  profit.  Elizabeth  demanded  the  full 
sum  which  had  been  realised.  The  Duke  allowed 
only  the  value  set  upon  the  wool  at  the  time  of  its 
shipment.  The  petty  disagreement  was  made  an  ex- 
cuse to  suspend  the  negotiations  ;  Count  Schwegenhem 
was  bowed  out  of  the  country  ;  and  the  Queen  re- 
peated what  she  had  said  to  Chapin,  that  she  would 
treat  directly  with  the  Duke's  master.  It  seemed  as 
if  she  believed  that  Philip's  forbearance  was  inex- 
haustible. She  knew,  or  Cecil  knew,  that  it  was  to 
him  that  the  highest  Catholics  looked  for  assistance, 
and  she  wished  to  force  them  to  recoo-nise  the  idleness 
of  their  expectations.  It  was  a  game  which  might  be 
tried  too  far  ;  yet,  for  the  present  it  seemed  to  answer. 
Philip  still  did  not  rouse  himself.  Alava  talked  to 
Walsingham  at  Paris  of  the  desirableness  of  a  revival 
of  the  old  alliance.!  Don  Guerau  was  obliged  to  apol- 
ogise for  Count  Schwegenhem's  failure,  as  if  the  cause 
of  it  had  rested  with  the  Commissioner ;  and  Leices- 
ter, as  a  new  year's  gift,  presented  Elizabeth  with  a 
group  of  figures  wrought  in  gold,  in  which  she  was 
herself  represented  on  a  throne,  with  the  Queen  of 
Scots  in  chains  at  her  feet ;  France  and  Spain  were 
being  overwhelmed  in  the  waves  of  the  ocean  ;  and 
Neptune,  with  the  globe  in  his  hand,  was  paying  hom- 
age to  the  English  sovereign.^ 

1  Walsingham  to  Cecil,  March  5 :   Complete  Ambassador. 
'^  Don  Guerau  to  Cayas,  January  9 :  MS.  Simancas. 


1571.]  The  Reign  of  Elizabeth.  149 

Extravagant,  or  at  least  premature  —  yet,  amidst 
the  suspicions  and  jealousies  of  the  Continental  Pow- 
ers, the  actual  position  of  England  was  scarcely  exag- 
gerated ;  and  the  absurd  spectacle  was  presented  to 
the  world  of  an  excommunicated  Princess  balancing 
herself  so  critically  that  it  was  supposed  a  push  would 
overthrow  her,^  yet  treating  Spain  with  disdain,  hold- 
ing as  a  prisoner  the  Queen  Dowager  of  France,  mak- 
ing her  country  an  asylum  from  which  the  refugees  of 
the  whole  of  Europe  levied  war  upon  their  respective 
sovereigns,  and  all  this  time  with  these  very  sovereigns 
suing  for  her  favour,  and  able  to  dictate  the  terms  on 
wliich  she  would  receive  them  again  as  her  friends. 

But  there  was  one  potentate  who  was  not  disposed 
to  sit  down  meekly  in  so  disgraceful  a  situation.  It 
was  not  to  see  them  thrust  aside  like  dishonoured  bills, 
that  Pope  Pius  had  directed  the  censures  of  the 
Church  against  Elizabeth  ;  and  after  all  allowances  for 
the  secularity  of  temporal  governments,  he  could  ill 
brook  and  he  could  hardly  comprehend  this  contempt- 
uous disregard  with  which  the  sentence  of  the  Holy 
See  had  been  received.  Spain  was  as  much  interested 
as  Rome  in  the  reconversion  of  England.  He  had 
lectured  Phihp  on  his  duties,  but  his  admonitions  had 
been  as  vain  as  his  entreaties.  The  Catholic  King 
listened,  acquiesced,  and  did  nothing ;  and  the  Pope 
perceived  at  last,  that  unless  he  could  himself  throw 
further  weight  into  the  scale,  the  Island  of  Saints 
might  remain  heretic  till  the  day  of  judgment. 

Don  Juan  de  Cuniga,  the  Spanish  resident  at  the 
Holy  See,  waited  upon  Pius  at  the  end  of  January, 
with  a  message  from  his  master,  conveyed  in  tlie  usual 

1  "  Tiene  bu  sceptro  tan  sobre  palillos  que  cualquiera  pequefia  fuer^a  le 
derribaria." — MS.  Simancas, 


150  History  of  England.  [Ch.  xx. 

tone.  The  King,  he  said,  was  grieved  to  the  soul  at 
the  behaviour  of  the  Queen  of  England  ;  he  was  most 
anxious  to  effect  a  change  there ;  and  his  Holiness 
might  25ut  entire  confidence  that  no  opportunity  would 
be  passed  over. 

The  King  of  Spain  had  sung  the  same  song  for 
twelve  years,  and  no  better  opportunity  would  be 
likely  to  occur  than  one  at  least  which  had  been  al- 
lowed to  escape.  The  Pope  replied  to  Don  Juan,  that 
the  English  Catholics  had  heavy  grounds  of  complaint 
against  the  Christian  Powers.  Not  only  they  had  re- 
ceived no  assistance  from  them,  but  his  own  Bull  had 
been  suppressed  in  France,  and  never  published  in 
Spain  or  Flanders ;  the  Queen  was  encouraged  by  the 
respect  which  was  paid  her  to  persist  in  her  disobedi- 
ence ;  she  had  already  been  the  principal  mover  of  all 
the  continental  disturbances,  and  she  would  go  on  as 
she  had  begun  as  long  as  she  remained  on  the  throne. 

Don  Juan  attempted  excuses,  but  the  Pope  cut  him 
short.  It  was  positively  necessary  to  do  something, 
he  said,  and  if  the  King  of  Spain  would  lend  assistance 
in  deposing  Elizabeth,  and  could  place  some  English 
Catholic  nobleman  on  the  throne  in  her  place,^  he  be- 
lieved that  he  could  secure  the  consent  and  coopera- 
tion of  the  French. 

"  The  French,  Don  Juan  rephed,  had  been  unable, 
or,  to  speak  more  truly,  had  not  been  willing,  to  root 
out  heresy  from  among  themselves.  It  was  not  likely 
that  they  would  undertake  the  reduction  of  England. 
They  would  make  fair  promises,  entangle  his  master  in 
a  war  with  the  Queen,  and  then  declare  in  her  favour.^ 

1  "  Un  Rey  Catolico  natural  del  niismo  Reyno."    Not  the  Queen  of  Scots 
therefore. 

2  "  Prometerian  grandes  cosas  para  hacer  declarar  a  su  Santidad  y  a  V. 
Magd  contra  la  Reyna  y  despues  se  juntarian  con  ella." 


1571.]  Tlie  Reign  of  Elizabeth.  151 

If  this  was  so,  the  Pope  said,  the  King  of  Spain 
might  at  least  recall  his  ambassador,  and  prevent  inter- 
course between  his  subjects  and  the  English. 

Don  Juan  could  merely  indicate  that  this  would  be 
to  break  prematurely  with  Elizabeth,  and  would  do 
more  harm  than  good.^ 

Nothing  can  show  more  clearly  than  this  conversa- 
tion the  intense  nnwilHngness  of  Philip  to  have  an 
English  quarrel  forced  upon  him.  Don  Juan  closed 
the  despatch  in  which  he  described  the  conversation 
by  saying,  that  if  the  Pope  showed  any  intention  of 
interfering  actively,  he  would  find  means  to  prevent 
him. 

But  Philip  was  no  longer  to  be  left  with  his  head 
run  ostrich-like  into  the  sand  ;  a  parallel  effort  to  move 
him  was  made  simultaneously,  through  the  Duchess  of 
Feria,  by  the  Bishop  of  Ross,  who  sent  over  to  Spain, 
evidently  for  Philip's  perusal,  a  long  and  curious  ac- 
count of  his  mistress'  positions  and  prospects.  "  The 
life  of  the  Queen  of  Scots,"  the  Bishop  said,  "  had  been 
in  great  danger  ;  Bacon,  Bedford,  and  Cecil  had  urged 
the  Queen  to  put  her  to  death  ;  and,  of  all  the  min- 
isters whom  Elizabeth  admitted  to  her  confidence, 
Leicester  only  had  opposed  her  execution.  A  revolu- 
tion in  her  favour  might  have  been  eflPected  with  ease, 
if  the  King  of  Spain  would  have  raised  a  finger ;  but 
the  King  of  Spain  had  given  no  sign,  all  application  to 
him  for  help  had  been  so  far  received  with  coldness, 
and  the  Queen  of  Scots  was  now  driven  to  entertain 
the  question  of  a  treaty.  But  the  conditions  offered  to 
her  were  so  intolerable,  that  she  would  not  accept  them 
till  she  was  assured  for  the  last  time  that  she  had  noth- 
ing to  hope  for.  She  would  rather  die  than  be  the 
1  Don  Juan  de  Cuniga  a  su  Magd,  January  27 :  MS.  Simancas. 


152  History  of  England.  [Ch.  xx. 

cause  of  the  continued  oppression  of  the  CathoHcs  ;  her 
party  was  falKng  to  pieces,  and  unless  the  King  helped 
her,  she  might  consent  to  things  which  would  cause 
her  endless  remorse  and  do  fatal  injury  to  the  Chris- 
tian faith.  If  the  persecutions  continued,  the  spirit  of 
the  Catholics  would  be  broken,  and  a  revolution  would 
then  be  impossible.  Lord  Seton  had  been  three 
months  at  Brussels  trying  to  prevail  on  Alva,  but  he 
might  as  well  have  pleaded  with  the  dead.  The  Span- 
iard, it  seemed,  depended  for  his  information  about 
the  state  of  England  on  the  reports  of  a  few  miserable 
wretches  without  faith  and  honesty.^  Harbours,  towns, 
supplies,  the  nobles  of  Scotland  and  England  to  assist 
the  enterprise  —  all  had  been  offered,  and  all  in  vain  ; 
and  unless  the  Queen  of  Scots  was  shortly  relieved, 
she  would  either  have  to  give  up  the  Prince  and  marry 
some  one  that  the  Queen  of  England  woiild  choose  for 
her,  or  without  doubt  she  would  be  secretly  made 
away  with. 

"  The  Catholic  King  perhaps  thought  the  Queen  of 
Scots  a  person  of  no  importance,  but  he  should  remem- 
ber that  to  her  God  had  given  by  right  the  sovereignty 
of  the  Island  of  Britain.  Her  hand  so  dowered  was 
not  to  be  despised.  A  marriage  had  been  spoken  of 
for  her  with  the  Duke  of  Anjou  or  the  Duke  of  Nor- 
folk, but  she  w^as  still  free  and  at  the  King  of  Spain's 
disposition,  if  only  he  would  take  her  under  his  pro- 
tection. 

"  The  submission  of  the  Duke  of  Alva  to  the  Queen 
of  England's  insolence  was  worse  than  humiliating. 
He  had  yielded  to  all  her  demands,  and  she  would  do 

1  "  Ellos  entretanto  se  contentan  mas,  como  se  vee,  de  tomar  informacion 
y  noticia  destas  cosas  de  algunos  baxos  hombrecillos,  de  quien  con  razon  se 
puede  tener  sospecha  assi  de  su  religion  como  de  su  sinceridad  y  bondad." 


1571.]  The  Reign  of  Elizabeth.  153 

nothing  in  return  which  he  desired.  The  Catholics 
could  only  suppose  that  he  was  influenced  by  some 
])altry  pique  or  jealousy.  The  Duke  of  Feria  had 
been  spoken  of  as  likely  to  supersede  him  in  the  Low 
Countries.  The  Duchess  was  an  English  woman. 
The  refuo-ees  were  thouo-ht  to  belong  to  the  Feria  fac- 
tion,  and  therefore  Alva  hated  them.  Every  heretic 
spy  found  more  favour  in  his  eyes  than  they  did. 

"  Finally  and  especially,  the  consciences  of  all  Chris- 
tians were  shocked  at  the  indifference  which  the  Kino; 
of  Spain  had  displayed  to  the  sentence  of  excommuni- 
cation. It  was  treated  as  if  it  had  no  existence.  The 
Catholics  everywhere  were  lost  in  astonishment,  and 
could  but  remember  with  fear  the  words  of  the  Gos- 
pel, '  woe  to  that  man  by  whom  the  offence  cometh.' 

"  The  Christian  faith  was  decaying.  A  Princess 
gifted  with  the  most  exquisite  graces  of  mind  and  per- 
son was  sinkino;  under  the  accumulated  weio-ht  of  ill- 
usage  and  undeserved  infamy  ;  the  Catholic  King  him- 
self, the  pillar  of  the  faith,  was  allowing  his  honour 
and  reputation  to  be  discredited  in  the  world  by  the 
wrongs  to  which  he  was  submittino;  at  the  hands  of  a 
bad  woman. 

"  Would  it  then  be  of  service,"  the  Bishop  asked, 
"  if  he  was  himself  to  repair  to  Spain  and  lay  the  truth 
before  his  Majesty?  To  reform  England  and  to  ex- 
tinguish the  faction  of  the  King  in  Scotland  were  one 
and  the  same  thing  ;  and  both  were  so  necessary,  that 
as  long  as  they  remained  undone  heresy  would  scarcely 
be  extinguished  in  the  Low  Countries.  The  English 
Catholics  had  placed  their  whole  confidence  in  the 
King  ;  the  Holy  See  implored  him  to  act ;  God  him- 
self had  marked  him  out  for  the  work  by  the  power 
which  he  had  trusted   in  his  hands.     If  he  would  not 


154  History  of  England.  [Ch.  xx. 

declare  himself  openly,  he  might  allow  his  subjects  to 
volunteer  for  service  in  Ireland  and  Scotland,  nor 
could  any  just  reason  be  given  for  his  refusal  to  allow 
the  Bull  to  be  published  in  his  dominions,  or  for  the 
scandal  of  the  continual  residence  of  his  Ambassador  at 
the  Encrlish  Court.  The  heretics  boasted  that  the 
King  of  Spain  feared  the  enmity  of  their  sovereign  and 
dared  not  quarrel  with  her."  ^ 

There  was  nothing  in  this  letter  which  Philip  must 
not  have  said  often  to  himself;  but  the  times  were 
growino;  uro;cnt.  His  resolution  beoan  to  fail  under 
the  importunities  of  the  Catholic  world,  and  the  Pope 
soon  after  made  an  opportunity  of  assailing  him  in 
more  regular  form. 

Mary  Stuart  was  evidently  one  difficulty.  Even 
the  Pope  would  have  preferred  some  nobleman  of 
unblemished  character  as  the  champion  of  Christ's 
Church,  could  any  one  have  been  found  whom  the  Eng- 
lish Catholics  could  agree  to  recognise.  This,  however, 
could  not  be.  It  was  necessary  to  make  the  best  of 
the  Queen  of  Scots,  and  to  rouse  Philip  out  of  his 
slumbers  in  her  favour.  From  his  agent  Ridolfi,  Pius 
was  incessantly  hearing  of  the  number  and  zeal  of  his 
English  friends,  of  Elizabeth's  cruelty,  and  their  abun- 
dant ability  to  help  themselves.  Ridolfi  declared  that 
all  the  Peers  except  four  or  five  were  openly  or  secretly 
disaffected.  The  Pope  said  that  he  had  never  heard 
of  a  country  where  the  will  of  the  united  nobility  was 
not  irresistible,  and  he  told  Ridolfi  that  if  he  could 
bring  over  some  bond  or  engagement  on  the  part  of 
the  Lords,  in  which  they  would  pledge  themselves  to 
a   general  insurrection,  he  would   be  able  to  lay  the 

1  MS.  Simancas,  endorsed,  "  El  Obispo  de  Ross."     The  letter  is  very 
long,  and  I  have  been  obliged  to  condense  it. 


1571.]  TJie  Reign  of  Elizahetli.  155 

case  before  Philip  in  a  form  wliicli  could  be  no  longer 
disreo-arded. 

The  moment  was  peculiarly  favourable.  Ridolfi 
must  have  been  a  man  of  no  ordinary  ability,  for  he 
had  entirely  deceived  the  English  Government  as  to 
his  real  character.  His  name  had  appeared  in  connex- 
ion with  the  Northern  Earls,  but  his  professed  occupa- 
tion as  a  banker  enabled  him  to  explain  every  suspi- 
cious circumstance.  He  admitted  without  hesitation 
that  the  Earls  had  borrowed  money  of  him,  but  there 
was  no  evidence  that  he  was  aware  of  the  purpose  for 
which  they  wanted  it,  and  he  had  come  so  well  out  of 
the  enquiry  that  after  Count  Schwegenhem's  depart- 
ure, Walsingham  recommended  him  to  Cecil  as  a  per- 
son who  might  be  trusted  to  talk  over  Avith  Philip  the 
conditions  of  a  possible  arrangement. 

An  opportunity  was  thus  created  to  Ridolfi's  hand, 
to  repair  unsuspected  to  the  very  countries  where  he 
wished  to  go,  and  to  the  persons  with  whom  he  wished 
to  communicate.  His  ostensible  business  would  lay 
with  Alva  and  the  King  of  Spain,  and  the  disputed 
question  of  the  ownership  of  the  money  originally 
seized  would  necessarily  take  him  to  Italy. 

So  far  nothing  could  be  more  fortunate.  But  if  a 
larger  movement  was  now  to  be  attempted  in  England, 
the  character  and  object  of  it  had  to  be  clearly  deter- 
mined. Divided  counsels  had  ruined  the  first  rising, 
and  before  Philip  would  think  of  moving  he  would 
insist  on  seeing  his  way  before  him.  Was  Elizabeth 
to  be  deposed  at  once  ?  or  was  she  to  be  allowed  to 
reign  for  the  term  of  her  life,  with  a  Catholic  Council 
at  the  head  of  the  government,  and  the  Queen  of  Scots 
for  her  successor?  Who  was  to  be  the  Queen  of 
Scots'  husband  ?  was  it  to  be  Don  John,  as  the  Cath- 


156  History  of  England.  [Ch.  xx 

olics  desired  ?  was  it  to  be  the  Duke  of  Norfolk,  the 
favourite  of  the  great  English  country  party  ?  Nor- 
folk had  most  friends,  but  he  had  not  been  reconciled 
to  the  Church,  and  the  Pope  and  Philip  could  not 
move  to  sive  the  throne  to  a  Protestant.  Was  there 
sufficient  security  for  his  conversion  in  the  event  of  a 
revolution  being  accomplished  ? 

The  latter  question  was  submitted  by  Ridolfi  to  the 
parties  principally  concerned  just  at  the  time  when  the 
restitution  treaty  was  hanging  fire  in  London. 

The  Duke  of  Norfolk,  irresolute  as  ever,  had  drifted 
on  between  falsehood  and  loyalty,  trusting  partly  that 
his  friends  would  bring  Elizabeth  to  consent  to  his  mar- 
riage with  the  Queen  of  Scots,  on  the  terms  originally 
conceived  between  himself  and  Leicester  and  Pem- 
broke, partly  looking  to  the  contingent  insurrection  if 
other  means  should  fail.  By  hesitating  at  the  critical 
moment  he  left  his  friends  in  the  North  to  failure  and 
exile ;  when  the  Stanleys  would  have  raised  the  stand- 
ard again,  he  was  still  uncertain  and  would  not  sanc- 
tion their  rising  ;  but  the  Queen  of  Scots  was  now 
determined  to  force  him  to  a  resolution,  and  she  sent 
him  word,  through  the  Bishop  of  Ross,  that  he  must 
make  up  his  mind.  It  was  idle  to  wait  any  longer  for 
Ehzabeth's  approval.  An  application  was  about  to  be 
made  to  the  King  of  Spain  in  the  Queen  of  Scots'  be- 
half. If  the  Duke  of  Norfolk  would  commit  himself 
finally  to  the  measures  which  were  in  contemplation, 
she  was  ready  to  fulfil  her  own  engagements  with 
him.  If  he  shrunk  from  the  danger  or  felt  unequal  to 
the  enterprise,  she  said  that  she  must  hold  herself  free 
to  make  other  arrangements. 

The  English  Peers  still  looked  to  Norfolk  with  a 
feudal  attachment  as  the  first  of  their    order.     Many 


1571.]  The  Bdgn  of  Elizabeth.  157 

of  them  represented  to  Don  Guerau  that  they  were 
still  anxious  that  the  Queen  of  Scots  should  marry  him 
if  the  King  of  Spain  would  sanction  it.^  Two  alter- 
natives therefore,  and  two  only,  now  lay  before  the 
Duke :  either  to  retire  from  the  field,  and  leave  the 
Queen  of  Scots  to  look  for  some  other  alliance,  or  to 
declare  himself  privately  a  Cathohc,  and  offer  himself 
through  Ridolfi  to  the  Pope  and  Philip  as  the  instru- 
ment of  an  armed  revolution.^ 

True  to  his  character,  Norfolk  struggled  hard  to 
avoid  committing  himself.  The  prospect  of  the  throne 
was  too  tempting  to  be  abandoned,  but  he  shivered 
at  the  thought  of  palpable  and  positive  treason.  He 
allowed  Ridolfi  to  visit  him  at  his  own  house.  He 
talked  over  a  plan  of  invasion  which  would  give  Alva, 
as  he  conceived,  a  certainty  of  success.  He  even  em- 
powered Ridolfi  to  assure  Alva  that  he  would  come 
forward  immediately  on  the  landing  of  a  Spanish  army, 
but  he  shrunk  from  setting  his  name  to  any  document 
of  which  Ridolfi  was  to  be  the  bearer.  The  papers 
might  fall  into  wrong  hands,  and  the  scaffold  had  ter- 
rors for  him. 

But  Norfolk's  signature  was  the  one  security  which 
Ridolfi  knew  to  be  indispensable.  He  insisted,  and 
the  Duke  yielded.^     He  was  assured  that  by  consent- 

1  "  Hallandose  ahora  aqui  la  Corte,  y  en  ella  los  mas  principales  Cato- 
licos,  ban  aprestado  otra  vez  la  platica  del  casamiento  del  dicho  Duque  de 
Norfolk  con  la  Keyna  de  Escocia  y  restitucion  de  la  religion  Catolica.  Pi- 
den  socorro  de  V.  Magti,  pero  yo  no  he  querido  salir  de  la  orden  del  Duque 
de  Alva  ni  darles  confian^a  ni  desconfian9a,  hasta  que  el  dicho  Duque  me 
tiene  mandado."  —Don  Guerau  to  Philip,  Februar}-6:  MS.  Simancas. 

2  Confession  of  the  Bishop  of  Ross :  Murdiu. 

3  Norfolk  swore  afterwards  that  he  had  signed  nothing.  The  Bishop  of 
Ross,  though  he  admitted  that  Ridolfi  had  received  every  encouragement 
short  of  absolute  signature ;  that  a  letter  written  in  his  name  had  been  read 
over  to  him,  and  had  been  approved  by  him ;  and  that  in  essentials  he  was 
thoroughly  implicated,  yet  in  that  one  point  supported  his  denial.     But  a 


158  Ehtory  of  England.  [Ch.  xx. 

ing  he  would  heal  the  divisions  by  which  the  CathoHcs 
were  prevented  from  acting  together.  The  threatened 
marriage  between  Ehzabeth  and  Anjou  screwed  his 
courage  to  tlie  sticking  point.  Being  still  under  sur- 
veillance at  his  own  house,  he  was  unable  to  consult 
freely  with  his  friends,  but  he  gathered  heart  from  a 
list  of  Peers  who  Ridolfi  told  him  would  sign  if  he 
would  sign.  No  less  than  forty  noblemen  professed  to 
be  waiting  only  for  an  opportunity  to  declare  in  arms 
ao-ainst  Elizabeth,  and  of  the  rest  a  third  were  neu- 
tral.i 

It  need  not  be  supposed  that  all  the  party  had  been 
consulted  man  by  man,  or  could  have  been  admitted 
safely  to  a  dangerous  secret.  They  were  men,  how- 
ever, notoriously  opposed  to  the  Reformation  policy  of 
EHzabeth's  Government,  and  among  them  were  Chnton, 
the  admiral  of  the  fleet,  and  Shrewsbury,  under  whose 
charge  the  central  person  of  the  conspiracy  was  resid- 
ing. So  supported,  or  so  believing  himself  to  be  sup- 
ported, the  Duke  of  Norfolk  took  the  fatal  plunge,  and 
gave  power  to  Ridolfi,  in    his  own    and    his    brother 

letter  from  the  Duke  to  Philip  siii-vives  at  Simancas  to  make  his  formal 
guilt  as  indisputable  as  his  substantial  complicity. 

1  The  forty  were,  the  Duke  of  Norfolk,  the  Marquis  of  Winchester,  the 
Earls  of  Arundel,  Oxford,  Northumberland,  Westmoreland,  Shrewsbury, 
Derby,  Worcester,  Cumberland,  Southampton,  Viscount  Montague,  Lords 
Howard,  Abergavenny,  Audley,  Morley,  Cobham,  Clinton,  Grey  de  Wilton, 
Dudley,  Ogle,  Latimer,  Scrope,  Monteagle,  Sandys,  Vaux,  Windsor,  St. 
John,  Burgh,  Mordaunt,  Paget,  Wharton,  Rich,  Stafford,  Dacres,  Darcy, 
Hastings,  Berkeley,  Cromwell,  Luinley. 

Fifteen  at  most,  according  to  Ridolti,  could  be  depended  upon  as  true  to 
Elizabeth,  and  of  these,  Sussex,  Rutland,  Huntingdon,  and  Hereford  alone 
belonged  to  the  old  English  aristocracy.  The  rest,  Russell,  Seymour,  Sack- 
ville,  Carey,  were  the  new  men  who  had  grown  out  of  the  revolution,  and 
so  far  as  the  Peers  were  concerned,  rather  aggravated  the  danger  from  the 
bitterness  with  which  they  were  hated  and  despised.—"  List  of  the  English 
Nobility,  with  a  note  of  the  part  which  each  nobleman  was  prepared  to 
take:  "  MS.  Simancas. 


1571.]  Tlie  Heipi  of  Elizabeth.  159 

nobles'  names,  to  bring  an  invading  army  into  England. 
Parliament  was  to  open  on  the  1st  of  April.  The  ar- 
rangements of  the  conspirators  were  completed  by  the 
middle  of  March.  Ridolfi,  after  a  circuit  to  Brussels, 
Rome,  and  Madrid,  expected  to  be  again  in  London 
before  the  close  of  the  summer,  while  the  Peers  would 
still  be  assembled  and  in  a  position  to  act.^ 

Don  Guerau,  in  a  letter  sent  direct  to  Spain,  pre- 
pared Philip  for  Ridolfi's  coming :  — 

DON   GUERAU  TO  PHILIP.2 

"  March  16. 

"  The  Queen  of  Scots,  the  Duke  of  Norfolk,  and  the 
other  Catholic  leaders,  have  arrived,  after  long  delib- 
eration, at  a  most  important  conclusion.  The  Queen 
of  Scots  will  send  a  Commissioner  to  your  Majesty, 
with  instructions  the  copy  of  which  I  enclose.  He 
will  explain  fully  to  his  Holiness  and  to  your  Majesty 
the  miserable  state  to  which  this  country  is  reduced, 
the  probability  that  the  Catholics  have  yet  greater 
cruelties  to  undergo,  and  the  solitary  prospect  of  escape 
which  is  open  to  them  through  the  assistance  of  those 
who  support  the  claim  of  the  Queen  of  Scots  to  the 
succession  of  these  realms.  The  other  competitors, 
the  Earls  of  Hertford  and  Huntingdon,  are  heretics. 
Your  Majesty  will  be  given  to  understand  the  unhappy 
state  of  that  Princess,  and  the  sufferings  to  which  the 
good  ^  are  exposed  who  favour  the  cause.  The  Queen 
of  England  does  but  dally  in  affecting  to  treat  for  her 
restoration.     More  than  once  she  has  proposed  to  put 

1  Norfolk  himself,  with  many  of  the  rest,  gave  letters  of  credit  in  their 
own  hands  to  Ridolfi.  The  originals  were  left  as  a  precaution  in  the  Jiands 
of  Don  Guerau,  and  transcripts  in  Don  Guerau's  cipher  were  forwarded  to 
Rome  and  to  Spain. 

2  MS.  Simancas. 

8  The  usual  phrase  in  these  despatches  to  express  the  Catholics. 


160  History  of  England.  [Ch.  xx. 

her  to  death,  and  she  forbears  only  the  more  effectually 
to  ruin  her  Catholic  subjects.  She  entertains  them 
with  the  hope  of  an  agreement,  while  the  heretics 
persecute  them  at  their  pleasure.  The  friends  of  the 
Queen  of  Scots  therefore  have  decided  that  she  must 
throw  herself  upon  the  protection  of  the  Christian 
princes,  and  especially  of  the  Pope's  Holiness  and  of 
your  Majesty.  They  are  willing  to  venture  their  lives 
and  fortunes  for  religion  and  for  that  Queen's  title. 
The  Duke  of  Norfolk,  the  first  nobleman  in  England, 
consents  to  place  himself  at  their  head.  The  Duke 
has  ever  in  secret  favoured  the  Catholics.  His  chief 
friends  are  Catholics,  and  he  has  constantly  supported 
the  Queen  of  Scots  in  deed  and  word.  He  possesses 
therefore  the  full  confidence  of  the  Catholic  pai'ty. 

"  This  Duke  at  the  same  time  is  the  leader  of  a  sec- 
tion of  the  heretics  who  might  perhaps  abandon  him 
were  he  to  be  openly  reconciled  to  the  Church.  It  is 
in  consequence  considered  expedient  that  he  should 
temporise,  the  better  to  use  their  assistance  and  bring 
them  under  the  yoke  of  the  Church  when  occasion 
shall  serve.  He  has  influence  among  the  Protestants 
in  two  ways  :  first,  a  great  many  of  them  favour  the 
Queen  of  Scots'  title.  They  believe  that  she  has  the 
right,  and  they  resent  the  late  imprisonment  of  the 
Duke  on  her  account.  The  Queen  of  England  in- 
tends in  the  approaching  Parliament  to  advance  the 
claims  of  the  Earl  of  Hertford,  and  they  will  take 
arms  with  the  Duke  to  prevent  such  a  wrong  from 
being  done. 

"  Secondly,  they  are  alarmed  and  angry  at  the  mar- 
riage which  is  now  talked  of  between  the  Queen  of 
England  and  the  Duke  of  Anjou.  The  Queen  is  sup- 
posed to  have  set  her  heart  upon  it,  and  it  is  thought 


1571.]  The  Reign  of  Elizabeth.  161 

that  the  Protestants  would  even  prefer  the  restoration 
of  the  faith  to  the  consummation  of  a  union  which  they 
detest.  The  Commissioner  will  take  especial  pains  to 
explain  the  nature  of  Norfolk's  position  to  the  Pope, 
so  that  his  Holiness  may  be  satisfied  about  him ;  and  it 
will  be  well  if  the  Duke  can  be  induced  to  seek  abso- 
lution at  his  Holiness's  hands,  and  to  submit  his  con- 
duct in  all  particulars  to  his  Holiness's  judgment. 
The  Queen  of  Scots  desires  him  to  do  this,  in  order 
that,  should  your  Majesty  prefer  to  arrange  the  mar- 
riage for  her  Avith  Don  John,  which  his  Holiness  so 
much  desires,  his  Holiness  may  the  better  be  able  to 
urge  the  Duke  to  give  way,  by  representing  to  him 
that  particular  interests  must  not  be  allowed  to  ob- 
struct the  universal  good  of  Christendom.^ 

"  The  Commissioner  will  reqviest  his  Holiness  to  send 
some  one  to  your  Majesty  to  give  you  the  particulars 
of  the  men  and  money  which  his  Holiness  will  contrib- 
ute to  the  enterprise,  and  to  satisfy  your  Majesty, 
should  you  feel  uncertainty,  about  the  Duke's  religion, 
the  Duke  being  the  only  person  through  whose  assist- 
ance the  work  can  be  done.  Against  the  Duke's  wishes 
it  would  be  extremely  difficult  for  any  foreign  prince 
to  carry  off  the  Queen  of  Scots  by  force,  or  if  she  were 
out  of  the  country  to  bring  her  back  and  place  her 
upon  the  throne. 

"  Your  Majesty  will  understand  that  no  word  of  all 
this  is  known  in  France,  nor  has  the  Queen  of  Scots 

1  So  I  understand  a  rather  complicated  passage :  —  "  Lo  qual  parcce  :'i  la 
Reyna  de  Escocia  assi,  u  fin  que  si  V.  Magd  quisiese  diferlr  esto,  para  tratar 
el  casamiento  del  S"' Don  Juan  de  Austria  —  el  qual  su  Santidad  desea 
mucho  —  haya  de  apretarlo  y  pasar  adelante,  ofreciendose  tales  occasicnes 
para  el  bien  universal  de  la  X^aJ,  el  qual  no  se  debe  impedir  por  uingun 
designo  particular." 

If  1  translate  rightly,  Mary  Stuart  hoped  to  balk  the  wretched  Norfolk 
of  the  reward  of  his  treason  after  all. 

VOL.  X.  11 


162  History  of  England.  [Ch.  xx. 

let  fall  a  hint  of  it  to  any  of  her  own  relations.  She 
places  her  confidence  in  your  Majesty  alone,  and  with 
your  Majesty,  if  God  gives  her  grace  to  obtain  her 
just  rights,  she  will  maintain  the  ancient  league  and 
confederation  which  has  so  long  existed  between  her 
and  your  progenitors. 

"  She  will  consent  also  to  a  proposal  made  to  her  by 
the  late  Queen  of  Spain  before  her  death,  for  a  mar- 
riage between  her  son  the  Prince  of  Scotland  and  one 
of  your  Majesty's  daughters.  Your  Majesty's  pleasure 
in  this  matter  will  be  hers.  She  will  place  the  Prince 
in  your  Majesty's  hands,  to  be  educated  at  your  Court 
in  virtue  and  the  Christian  faith. 

"  Your  Majesty  wall  also  hear  in  detail  the  nature  of 
the  assistance  which  will  be  required,  the  native  force 
with  which  your  Majesty's  army  will  be  supported,  and 
the  means  by  which  the  Queen  of  Scots  can  be  released, 
and  the  Queen  of  England  arrested  and  confined  :  you 
wnll  be  able  to  assure  yourself  that  this  is  no  ill-consid- 
ered enterprise  in  which  you  are  invited  to  take  part, 
and  that  your  soldiers  will  be  in  no  danger." 

Accompanying  this  letter,  as  Don  Guerau  stated, 
were  transcripts  of  the  commissions  given  both  by  the 
Queen  of  Scots  and  the  Duke  of  Norfolk  to  Ridolfi. 
The  Queen  of  Scots  had  not  at  first  intended  to  com- 
municate to  Don  Guerau  the  full  details  of  the  plot. 
She  feared  that  he  would  send  a  sketch  of  them  pre- 
maturely to  Alva,  and  that  Alva  would  form  an  un- 
favourable opinion  with  an  imperfect  case  before  him. 
But  the  Bishop  of  Ross  feared  to  awake  Don  Guerau's 
suspicions  by  an  imperfect  confidence.  If  Don  Guerau 
felt  his  footsteps  insecure  anywhere  in  such  a  sea  of 
quicksands,  he  would  report  unfavourably,  and  the 
scheme  would  be  ruined. 


1571.]  The  Reign  of  Elizabeth.  163 

Mary  Stuart's  letter  was  therefore  laid  before  him 
exactly  as  she  wrote  it,  and  the  Ambassador's  own 
account  to  Philip  was  in  parts  a  mere  duplicate  of  the 
Queen  of  Scots*  Avords.  In  form  it  was  addressed  to 
Ridolfi,  and  the  matter  which  it  contained  was  to  be 
laid  before  the  Pope  and  Philip. 

With  extreme  skill,  and  touching  with  comparative 
lightness  on  her  personal  sufferings,  she  turned  the  sub- 
stance of  her  representations  entirely  upon  the  cause 
of  the  Catholic  Church.  When  she  spoke  of  her  title 
and  claims,  she  seemed  to  value  them  chiefly  as  means 
towards  the  restoration  of  the  faith  ;  and  her  own  inju- 
ries appeared  most  to  grieve  her  through  the  sympathy 
which  they  excited  among  the  Catholic  noblemen  —  a 
sympathy  which,  immediately  that  it  was  manifested, 
brought  down  upon  her  friends  the  most  cruel  and  ma- 
lignant persecutions.  "  Some  were  in  prison,"  she  said, 
"  some  murdered,  some  in  exile,  and  she  was  so  grieved 
that  she  pi^ayed  often  it  might  be  the  will  of  God  to 
take  her  out  of  the  world.  If  she  was  once  dead  and 
bevond  the  reach  of  the  hard  woman  who  had  her  in 
her  hands,  the  Catholics,  she  thought,  would  then  be 
more  patient,  and  would  be  content  to  wait  till  God 
took  pity  on  them." 

"  She  was  mocked  at,  trifled  with,  and  insulted  with 
hopes  of  release  which  were  never  intended  to  be  real- 
ised. She  was  in  daily  expectation  of  assassination 
either  by  poison  or  open  violence.  A  person  had  once 
even  come  to  the  place  where  she  Avas,  with  a  commis- 
sion to  kill  her,  and  she  was  kept  alive  only  that  Scot- 
land might  be  plunged  into  the  miseries  of  uncertainty 
and  civil  war,  and  tliat  Elizabeth  might  make  her  hate- 
ful to  her  subjects  by  representing  to  them  that  she 
was  the  cause  of  their  sufferings." 


164  History  of  England.  [Ch.  xx. 

She  then  went  on  to  speak  of  Norfolk  and  the  Eng- 
lish nobility,  of  their  friendliness  to  herself,  their  zeal 
for  the  Catholic  Church,  and  their  determination  to 
risk  life  and  fortune  to  overturn  the  present  Govern- 
ment. She  touched  approvingly  on  Norfolk's  treachery 
to  the  Protestants  in  pretending  still  to  belong  to  them, 
on  the  Anjou  marriage,  and  the  fury  of  the  English 
people  at  the  prospect  of  having  a  French  Prince 
among  them  ;  and  afterwards,  successively,  she  went 
over  all  the  points  on  which  Don  Guerau  had  written 
to  his  master  —  the  necessity  of  making  use  of  the 
Duke,  her  own  devotion  to  Spain,  and  the  certainty  of 
1)he  success  of  an  invasion.^ 

So  far  Mary  Stuart.  It  is  necessary  to  remember 
that  she  was  no  subject  of  Elizabeth's  ;  that  in  the  eyes 
of  Elizabeth  she  was  still  Queen  of  Scotland,  unlaw- 
fully deprived  of  her  crown  by  her  subjects,  for  crimes 
of  which,  after  a  formal  examination,  she  had  not  been 

1  Instructions  of  the  Queen  of  Scots  to  Ridolfi :  MS.  Simancas. 

A  message  was  attached  which  Eidolfi  was  to  give  separately  to  the  Pope, 
contrived  to  meet  any  rumours  which  might  have  reached  him  as  to  her 
past  misdoings. 

"You  will  explain  to  his  Holiness,"  she  said,  "  the  ill-treatment  which  I 
met  with  from  my  subject,  the  Earl  of  Bothwell.  The  Earl  carried  me, 
the  Lord  Huntly,  and  my  secretary,  to  the  Castle  of  Dunbar  and  afterwards 
to  the  Castle  of  Edinburgh.  I  was  there  detained  against  my  will  until  he 
had  procured  a  pretended  divorce  between  himself  and  his  wife,  the  Lord 
Huntly's  sister,  and  he  then  forced  me  to  marry  him.  I  therefore  entreat 
his  Holiness  to  take  order  for  my  relief  from  this  indignity,  either  by  a 
process  at  Rome  or  by  a  commission  sent  into  Scotland." 

If  the  Queen  of  Scots  wished  to  marry  again  it  was  no  doubt  necessary 
for  her  to  free  herself  from  a  troublesome  engagement.  Yet  the  versatile 
lady  had  but  two  months  before  been  in  correspondence  with  Bothwell  him- 
self. Buchanan,  who  had  gone  to  Copenhagen  to  endeavour  to  prevail  on 
the  King  to  give  up  Bothwell  to  the  Regent,  ascertained  that  the  Queen  of 
Scots  had  both  written  to  the  Earl  herself,  and  had  written  to  the  King  to 
entreat  him  not  to  listen  to  Buchanan's  persuasions.  Buchanan  told  Cecil 
that  if  he  took  the  trouble,  he  might  intercept  some  of  her  letters.  —  Bu- 
chanan to  Cecil,  January  19.  From  Copenhagen :  MSS.  Scotland,  BoUs 
House. 


1571.]  The  Reign  of  Elizabeth.  165 

declared  to  be  guilty.  So  far  as  Scotland  was  con- 
cerned, therefore,  Elizabeth  had  no  right  whatever  to 
complain  of  her  using  any  means  and  inviting  any 
assistance  to  compel  the  recognition  of  her  authority 
there.  In  England,  her  position  was  so  utterly  anom- 
alous, that  it  was  hard  to  say  whether  she  could  or 
could  not  be  regarded  justly  as  subject  to  the  laws ; 
and  could  the  causes  which  brought  her  there  have 
been  forgotten,  she  would  have  been  entitled  morally 
to  use  any  means  whatever  to  recover  her  freedom. 

She,  indeed,  seeing  her  crimes  condoned  by  Peers 
and  Prelates,  by  the  Vicar  of  Christ  upon  his  spiritual 
throne,  might  easily  have  persuaded  herself  that  she 
was  the  chosen  of  Heaven,  a  woman  after  God's  heart, 
like  the  David  to  whom  her  defenders  compared  her. 
It  was  true  that  Elizabeth  had  protected  her  honour 
and  had  saved  her  life  —  saved  her  when  all  parties  in 
Scotland  would  have  shaken  hands  over  her  grave  — 
saved  her  when  the  wisest  of  the  English  Council  be- 
lieved that  her  life  had  a  second  time  been  forfeited. 
It  was  true,  as  Elizabeth  said,  that  no  sovereign  in 
Europe  would  have  shown  the  forbearance  which  she 
had  shown  to  a  pretender  to  her  crown.  Yet  benefits, 
when  undeserved,  are  but  added  injuries ;  and  rage, 
hatred,  jealousy,  the  thousand  passions  which  failure 
upon  failure  had  aggravated  to  madness,  explain  en- 
tirely the  desperate  course  upon  which  the  imprisoned 
Queen  was  now  venturing. 

Far  different  was  the  position  of  the  Duke  of  Nor- 
folk. Norfolk  knew  Mary  Stuart's  story,  and  never 
I)retended  to  believe  her  the  suffering  innocent  which 
her  friends  now  represented  her  to  be.  Norfolk  was 
Elizabeth's  subject,  but  lately  pardoned  by  her  for 
offences  for  which  her  father  would  have  made  short 


166  History  of  England.  [Ch.  xx. 

work  with  him.  Bound  to  her  by  the  most  solemn 
promises,  which  on  the  moment  when  he  made  them 
he  had  determined  to  break,  and  without  even  the 
poor  pretext  of  rehgion  to  invest  his  treason  with 
spurious  sanctity  —  Norfolk's  instructions  come  next. 
Whether  written  by  himself  matters  little.  He  denied 
them,  but  the  evidence  of  their  substantial  authenticity 
is  too  strong  to  be  shaken  by  his  own  tainted  word. 
They  were  read  over  in  his  presence  and  approved  by 
him,  and  the  bearer  carried  credentials  from  him  to  the 
King  of  Spain. 

He,  too,  like  the  Queen  of  Scots,  addressed  himself 
in  form  to  Ridolfi.^  "  Such,"  he  said,  "  is  the  confi- 
dence which  is  placed  in  you  by  the  Queen  of  Scots, 
by  myself,  and  by  others  our  friends  in  this  realm,  that, 
with  common  consent,  we  entrust  a  matter  to  your 
diligence  and  honesty  which  touches  the  safety  of  our 
own  lives,  tlie  welfare  of  this  nation,  and,  generally, 
of  the  whole  of  Christendom.  We  commission  you  to 
go  with  all  expedition,  first  to  Rome  and  then  to  the 
Catholic  King,  that  you  may  lay  before  his  Holiness 
and  his  Majesty  the  wretched  state  of  this  island,  our 
own  particular  wrongs,  as  I  have  more  largely  by  word 
of  mouth  made  them  known  to  you,  and  an  assured 
mode  by  which  our  country  and  ourselves  can  obtain 
rehef. 

"  The  Queen  of  Scots  has  informed  you  what  you 
v/ill  say  on  her  part.  I  on  mine,  and  in  the  names  of 
the  larger  number  of  the  Peers  of  this  realm  —  the  list 
of  whom  you  carry  with  you  —  declare  our  own 
opinions  in  the  following  words  ;  and  we  pray  God  to 
conduct  you  safely  through  your  journey,  and  to  bring 
you  back  with  happy  success. 
1  Instructions  of  the  Duke  of  Norfolk  to  Robert  Ridolfi :  MS.  Simancaa. 


1571.]  Tlie  Reign  of  Elizabeth.  167 

"  You  will  tell  his  Holiness  and  the  King  that,  to  all 
appearance,  bad  things  will  grow  to  worse  among  us, 
unless  God  of  His  mercy  shall  move  them  to  look  upon 
our  afflictions  and  assist  us  —  as  they  may  now  do 
with  ease  and  safety  —  to  advance  the  title  of  the 
Queen  of  Scots,  to  restore  the  Catholic  religion,  and  to 
suppress  the  pretensions  of  the  Earls  of  Hertford  and 
Huntingdon,  who  on  various  grounds  aspire  to  the  suc- 
cession, and,  being  Huguenots,  find  favour  with  the 
heretics. 

"  You  will  make  known  the  good  and  prompt  dis- 
position of  the  Catholics,  who  are  the  strongest  party 
in  numbers  and  rank,  and  you  will  explain  the  oppor- 
tunitv  which  is  now  offered  for  the  reestablishment  of 
the  truth,  through  the  just  title  of  the  Queen  of  Scots, 
many  of  the  Protestants  regarding  religion  as  of  less 
importance  than  the  succession,  and  being,  therefore, 
ready  to  support  the  Queen  of  Scots  against  the  rival 
claimants. 

"  And  since  his  Holiness  and  the  Catholic  King  may 
have  hitherto  been  dissatisfied  with  me,  as  having  in 
some  sort  affected  to  be  a  Huguenot,  you  will  say  that 
I  have  never  been  disloyal  to  the  Holy  See,  but  have 
desired  only  to  hold  myself  in  readiness  (when  an  oc- 
sion  like  the  present  should  offer  itself)  to  do  some 
service  to  my  country  and  the  common  weal  of  Chris- 
tendom ;  ^  as  the  event  will  show  if  they  give  us  now 
the  aid  for  which  we  ask.  My  hope  is  to  unite  this 
whole  island  under  one  sovereign,  and  restore  the  an- 

1  "  Y  quando  su  Santidad  y  el  Roy  hasta  aj^ora  hubiescn  tcnido  alffuna 
sospecha  de  mi  por  no  habenne  declarado,  antes  en  cierta  niancra  inostrado 
Bcr  Ugonote,  les  significareis  que  no  ha  sido  por  mala  volinitad  que  yo  aya 
tenido  a  aquella  Santa  Sede,  sino  para  poder,  quando  el  licmpo  y  ocasion 
8e  presentase  como  agora  se  ofresce,  hacer  4  toda  esta  Isla  y  generalmcnte 
^  toda  la  Christiandad  el  relevado  servicio  que  el  mismo  eflecto  mostrara." 


168  History  of  England.  [Ch.  xx. 

cient  laws  and  the  ancient  religion.  Yet,  because  on 
account  of  tlie  Queen  of  Scots'  title,  many  Huguenots 
work  with  me  and  under  me,  they  must  not  be  sur- 
prised if  I  do  not  as  yet  make  known  my  purpose  to 
every  one.  You  will  kiss  the  feet  of  his  Holiness  in 
my  name  and  that  of  the  nobles,  and  you  will  say  that, 
if  God  gives  me  grace  to  conduct  this  enterprise  to  a 
happy  end,  I  will  then  be  content  to  do  anything 
which  his  Holiness,  the  King  of  Spain,  and  the  Queen 
of  Scots  shall  ordain. 

*'  I  and  my  friends  will  adventure  our  lives  in  the 
cause,  and  I  beseech  his  Holiness  to  use  his  influence 
with  the  Catholic  King  in  our  behalf.  You  will  con- 
vince his  Majesty  of  the  sincere  hearts  with  which  we 
turn  to  him,  and  although  I  may  at  times,  either  for  the 
sake  of  the  Queen  of  Scots  or  for  other  causes,  have 
seemed  to  incline  too  much  towards  France,  you  will 
say  that  I  have  never  been  French  at  heart,  but  that 
my  inclinations  have  been  always  towards  his  Majesty, 
as  I  hope  I  shall  have  occasion  to  prove.     I  turn  to  'I 

him  as  my  most  sure  refuge.  I  beseech  him  to  help 
me  in  the  interests  of  the  Christian  world.  The  per- 
nicious purpose  of  those  about  the  Queen  is  to  deter- 
mine the  succession  to  some  one  of  their  own  sort,  and 
to  establish  the  Huguenot  religion,  not  here  only,  but 
in  all  Europe.  If  this  be  done,  the  King's  Low  Coun- 
tries will  be  m  danger,  especially  if  the  marriage  take 
effect  between  the  Queen  and  the  Duke  of  Anjou,  — 
but  that  marriage  shall  never  be,  if  the  King  will  aid 
us  in  preventing  it. 

"  You  will  tell  his  Majesty  that,  in  return  for  the 
confidence  which  we  place  in  him,  we  trust  he  will  ap- 
prove of  my  own  marriage  with  the  Queen  of  Scots. 
Half  the  realm  desires  it  as  well  as  I.     We  bind  our- 


iJTi-]  TJie  Reign  of  Elizabeth.  169 

selves  to  renew  the  league  between  England  and  Spain, 
and  to  restore,  as  we  should  have  long  ago  done  but 
for  the  late  troubles,  all  the  property  of  the  King 
which  is  detained  in  this  country.  His  Majesty  will 
find  us  ready  to  do  our  own  parts.  The  nobles  and 
the  people  promise  to  take  arms  with  myself  at  their 
head,  and  to  adventure  themselves  in  battle  ;  yet,  being 
imperfectly  provided,  ^ve  cannot  do  all  of  ourselves. 
We  ask  his  jSIajesty  for  money,  arms,  ammunition, 
troops,  and  especially  for  some  experienced  soldier  to 
lead  us ;  ^  we  on  our  part  providing  a  place  upon 
the  coast  where  his  army  can  land,  entrench  itself,  and 
keep  its  stores. 

"  We  can  ourselves  on  the  spot  provide  20,000  foot 
and  3000  horse  ;  besides  those  many  others  who  have 
pledged  themselves  afterwards  to  take  the  field  upon 
our  side. 

"  In  my  own  opinion,  the  most  convenient  port  will 
be  Harwich,  where  I  can  myself  be  present  Avith 
the  forces  of  the  country.  If  Portsmouth  be  thought 
better,  I  will  be  there  in  strength  enough,  for  a  time 
at  least,  to  hold  in  check  the  Queen  of  England's 
army.  From  his  Majesty  and  his  Holiness  w^e  ask  for 
6000  harquebussmen,  with  4000  additional  harquebusses 
to  arm  our  own  people,  2000  corslets,  and  25  pieces 
of  artillery.  3000  horses  will  be  Avanted  also,  to  keep 
command  of  the  country  in  case  the  Queen  of  Eng- 
land make  more  resistance  than  it  is  thouoht  she  will 
be  able  to  do.  Money  will  be  wanted  also  ;  and  if  the 
enterprise  succeed,  as  with  the  help  of  God  and  of  his 
Majesty  it  must,  I  and  the  Queen  of  Scots  undertake 

1  "  Se  difcne  assister  nos  lo  mas  pronto  que  pudiese,  ai^si  con  dineros 
como  con  el  numero  de  gente,  armas  y  municiones,  y  pi-incipalmente  con 
un  personag  e  de  experiencia  para  guiar  un  exercito." 


J.  t 


0  History  of  England.  [Ch.  xx. 


to  reimburse  his  Majesty  for  all  the  expenses  which  he 
may  incur.  Were  it  possible  to  increase  the  succour 
to  10,000,  2000  men  being  landed  in  Scotland,  and 
2000  in  Ireland,  the  Queen  would  have  to  divide  her 
forces,  and  success  would  be  the  more  certain. 

"  If  the  war  with  the  Turks,  or  other  impediment, 
make  it  necessary  for  his  Majesty  to  put  us  off,  I  and 
others,  if  it  seems  expedient,  might  retire  to  Spain  or 
Flanders,  and  wait  for  a  more  convenient  time.  The 
Queen  of  Scots,  however,  must  be  first  set  at  liberty. 
If  we  go  away  and  leave  her  in  the  Queen  of  Eng- 
land's hands,  she  will  be  destroyed. 

"  If  the  Queen  of  England  be  left  with  her  present 
ad\'isers,  the  Low  Countries  will  never  be  secure. 
After  the  success  of  our  proposed  scheme,  his  Majesty 
need  fear  no  further  troubles  there,  and  vou  will  tell 
the  King  therefore,  that  it  should  be  executed  before 
the  end  of  the  coming  summer,  and  before  the  French 
or  the  Queen  of  England  have  discovered  our  secret. 
As  yet,  you  will  say,  the  French  know  nothing  of  it, 
nor  is  there  any  surer  way  to  prevent  the  Anjou  mar- 
riage. Be  as  quick  as  you  can  that  we  lose  not  the 
summer.  You  carry  letters  of  credit  from  me  and 
from  all  my  friends,  for  his  Holiness,  the  Kino;,  and 
the  Duke  of  Alva  ;  ^  but  as  both  you  and  the  Bishop 
of  Ross  are  of  opinion  that  these  letters  may  be  dan- 
gerous both  to  yourselves  and  to  us,  you  may  leave 
them  in  the  hands  of  the  Spanish  Ambassador  ;  you 
will  ask  him,  from  me,  to  transcribe  them  in  his  own 
cipher,  and  send  copies  to  each  of  the  Princes,  and 
assure  them  that  he  is  in  possession  of  the  originals  ;  ^ 

1  "  Llevais  cartas  de  creencia  mias  j  de  todos  los  amigos." 

2  "  Me  contento  que  las  dexeis  aqui  en  manos  del  Embajador  de  Espafia, 
con  rogarle  de  mi  parte  que  se  contente  de  daros  copia  dellas  en  su  cifra 
mas  secreta  y  que  escriba  a  cada  uno  de  los  dichos  Principes  como  tiene 
los  originales  cerca  de  si." 


1571.]  The  Reign  of  Elizabeth.  171 

giving  at  the  same  time  the  reasons  why  you  have 
them  not  with  you.  If  I  can  see  the  Ambassador  and 
confirm  to  him  what  I  have  said  to  you,  I  will  do  so. 
If  not,  I  must  let  him  know  by  letter.  I  will  write 
with  so  much  the  more  warmth  to  his  Majesty,  whose 
hand  you  will  kiss  with  all  due  reverence  in  my  name.^ 
You  must  insist  on  my  desire  to  serve  him,  and  entreat 
him  to  think  well  of  me. 

"  To  the  Duke  of  Alva  you  will  give  my  commen- 
dations :  you  will  admit  him  as  far  as  you  think  proper 
into  our  plans  —  and  as  you  find  him  disposed,  you 
will  ask  for  his  favourable  letters  to  his  Holiness  and 
the  King.  You  will  require  him  as  a  Prince  of  hon- 
our not  to  betray  us ;  and  you  will  leave  our  cipher 
with  him,  that  we  may  keep  him  informed  of  what  is 
going  on  among  us. 

"  And,  because  the  King  of  Portugal  is  also  much 
offended  with  the  Queen  of  England,  I  think  that, 
being  a  most  Catholic  Prince,  he  cannot  but  favour  us. 

1  The  commission  is  so  long  that  I  have  been  obliged  to  abridge  it  in 
places,  but  I  have  omitted  nothing  of  consequence,  and  I  have  as  far  as 
possible  preserved  the  tone.  The  letter  of  credit,  which  was  forwarded  in 
Don  Guerau's  cipher,  was  as  follows:  — 

"Christiani  orbis  Ssrenissime  idemque  Catholice  Eex;  hiijus  insulis 
BritanniciB  statum  tot  niiseriis  et  serumnis  undique  religionis  ergo  dissidii 
quoque  fidei  causa  deplorandum  considerans,  hunc  nuntium  Kobertum  Ri- 
dolii,  virum  probum,  de  aliorum  procerum  hujus  regni  consilio  in  pra?sen- 
tiam  V.  Maj'is  mitto,  adeo  instructum  ut  de  rebus  ad  publicum  spectantibus 
commodum,  Serenitatem  tuam  certiorem  redderre  poterit,  cui  lidem  haberi 
et  eundem  bene  expeditum  ea  celeri  diligentia  quam  ipsius  negotii  statum 
(sic)  requirit  ad  nos  remitti  humillime  supplico,  et  ut  omnia  ad  optatum 
perducantur  finem,  non  solum  omnem  nieam  operam  et  cetera  quasmearum 
virium  sunt,  sed  et  vitam  denique  meam  in  Dei  gloriam  exponere  summa 
fide  polliceor.  Cajtera  vero  quce  V*  Maj"  nuntius  abunde  et  perspicace 
{sic)  coram  disseret  ad  Vie  Maj''»  summam  prudentiam,  sicut  et  mea  omnia 
definienda  supplex  refero,  quam  semper  incolumem  servet  et  tueatur  Deus 
Optimus  Maximus.     Londini,  vigesimo  Martii  1571. 

"  Celeritudinis  tuae  addictissimus  servus, 

"  Thomas  Dux  Norfolci.b." 
—  MS.  Simancas. 


172  History  of  England.  [Ch.  xx. 

As  this  Prince  has  no  ambassador  residing  here  through 
whom  I  can  communicate  with  him,  you  will  ask  his 
Holiness  and  the  Catholic  King  to  introduce  you  to 
him  ;  and  when  you  shall  have  left  them,  and  shall 
have  let  us  know  what  we  are  to  look  for  from  them, 
you  may  return  through  Portugal,  and  tell  the  King, 
that  if  he  will  join  our  enterprise,  I  will  undertake  to 
see  him  satisfied  for  the  injuries  which  he  has  sus- 
tained. He  can  help  us  much  by  throwing  men  into 
Ireland  or  Scotland.  It  will  not  be  suspected,  and  his 
transports  could  be  on  the  coast  before  a  word  had 
been  heard  about  them.  The  Queen  will  have  to  di- 
vide her  force.  She  will  be  disturbed  and  terrified, 
and  the  rest  of  the  work  can  be  executed  wuth  greater 
ease."  ^ 

That  ambiguous  crime  of  treason,  which  graduates, 
according  to  its  object  and  circumstances,  through  all 
moral  degrees,  from  the  most  sublime  virtue  to  the 
deepest  wickedness,  has  rarely  appeared  less  favoura- 
bly than  in  this  unlucky  paper.  If  the  Duke  of  Nor- 
folk is  to  be  credited  with  a  sincere  conversion  to  the 
Roman  faith,  that  faith  itself  assumed  in  his  person  its 
most  revolting  and  perfidious  aspect.  The  penitent 
was  not  to  reveal  his  creed  because  he  was  still  trusted 
by  those  whose  cause  he  was  betraying ;  and  because, 
by  retaining  their  confidence,  he  could  serve  the  Cath- 
olic interests  more  effectually.  If,  as  he  afterwards 
protested,  he  remained  at  heart  a  Protestant,  he  was 
deceiving  alike  his  new  friends  and  his  old.  He  was 
without  the  solitary  excuse  which  he  might  have 
pleaded  in  palliation  of  his  treachery.     He  was  bring- 

1  Commission  of  the  Duke  of  Norfolk  to  Ridolfi :  MS.  Simancas.  An 
Italian  version  of  the  same  document  has  been  printed  by  Labanoff  from 
the  Vatican  Archives. 


1571.J  The  Reign  of  EUzabeih.  173 

ing  an  army  of  strangers  upon  England,  he  was  pre- 
paring to  inflict  upon  his  countrymen  inevitable  hor- 
rors of  invasion  and  civil  war,  to  gratify  his  own  pride 
and  paltry  ambition.  Doubtless,  to  his  conscience,  if 
conscience  pricked  him,  he  could  say  that  there  Avas 
much  in  the  administration  of  which  he  disapproved : 
the  excesses  of  the  Reformation,  the  social  changes, 
and  the  growth  of  a  new  order  of  men  whom  he  may 
have  hated  as  his  father  hated  Cromwell,  might  have 
reasonably  offended  his  pi'ejudices.  Doubtless,  even 
while  he  called  himself  a  Lutheran,  he  had  no  sympa- 
thy Avith  the  Protestantism  of  France,  and  Scotland, 
and  the  Low  Countries,  which  Cecil's  policy  encour- 
aged and  protected  ;  yet,  it  was  not  to  remedy  such 
ills  as  these  that  Alva's  leoions  should  have  been  called 
in  to  water  English  soil  with  English  blood.  Not  on 
such  crrounds  as  these  should  he  have  souo;ht  the  over- 
throw  of  a  government,  which,  however  grave  its 
shortcomings,  was  the  mildest  which  England  had 
known  for  many  a  century.  He  might  sigh  for  the 
patriarchal  days  of  feudalism,  when  the  earls  and 
dukes  were  local  sovereigns,  and  no  upstart  commoner 
could  stride  before  them  on  the  road  to  power  ;  but 
there  was  little  likelihood  that  the  ancient  order  and 
reverence  which  he  and  his  friends  so  much  regretted, 
could  be  reestablished  by  lying  and  treachery,  or  that 
a  purer  creed  could  be  brought  back  into  the  Church 
by  placing  Elizabeth's  sceptre  in  the  hands  of  Both- 
well's  ])aramour.  There  had  been  a  time  when  Nor- 
folk would  not  have  required  to  be  reminded  of  such 
common  truths.  He  was  not  naturally  mean  or  false. 
But  the  spell  of  the  enchantment  was  upon  him,  and 
the  woman,  for  whose  sake  he  was  fouling  his  hands 
with  baseness,  was  intending  secretly,  when  she  had 


174  History  of  England.  [Ch.  xx. 

used  his  services,  to  dupe  him  at  last  out  of  his  re- 
ward. 

Thus  Ridolfi  went  —  ostensibly  on  Elizabeth's  busi- 
ness —  to  return  if  possible  in  the  summer  with  the 
Spanish  army,  and  Norfolk  lay  waiting  in  Howard 
House  for  the  springing  of  the  mine,  while  Mary 
Stuart  corresponded  with  Elizabeth  about  the  treaty  as 
if  her  thoughts  were  absorbed  in  that  and  that  onlv. 
She  appealed  from  Elizabeth  ill-informed  by  her  de- 
tractors, to  Elizabeth  who  would  one  day  hear  her  de- 
fence ;  she  affected  still  to  depend  upon  her  to  prevent 
her  title  being  meddled  with  by  Parliament,  and  she 
swore  that  she  was  not  entertaining  a  thought  in  Eliza- 
beth's prejudice.^ 

In  signal  contrast  Avith  all  this  treachery  and  con- 
spiracy, a  remarkable  exploit  in  Scotland  threw  sudden 
credit  on  the  Regent's  government,  gave  heart  to  the 
Protestants,  and  encouraged  Elizabeth  in  her  resolution 
to  postpone  for  a  time  at  least  the  further  consideration 
of  the  Queen  of  Scots'  restitution. 

The  Castle  of  Dumbarton  has  been  many  times 
mentioned    in    this    history.       The    rock   on 

April.  .         .  ''    . 

which  it  stands  forms  the  point  of  a  peninsula 
at  the  confluence  of  the  Leven  and  the  Clyde.  It 
rises  sheer  from  the  water  to  a  height  of  two  hundred 
feet.  The  circumference  at  the  base  is  less  than  half 
a  mile,  and  the  sides,  if  not  entirely  perpendicular,  are 
so  near  it  that  there  is  but  one  spot  where  it  can  be 
ascended  without  ladders  or  ropes.  The  rock  is  united 
to    the    mainland  only  by  a  low   strip  of  marsh    and 


1  "  Veu  comme  desubs  que  je  ne  desire  rien  mouvoir  de  ma  part  pour  ne 
vous  desplayre  sans  aultre  respect  je  vous  jure."  — Mary  Stuart  to  Eliza- 
beth, March  27;  and  compare  Same  to  the  same,  March  31:  Labanoff, 
Vol.  III. 


1571.]  Tlie  Reign  of  Elizabeth.  175 

meadow,  whicli  at  that  time  was  flooded  by  high  tides. 
In  a  cleft  near  the  summit  there  is  a  spring  of  water, 
and  thus  before  the  invention  of  shells  the  place  was 
virtually  im])regnable  except  by  famine.  It  had  been 
held  by  Lord  Fleming,  in  the  name  of  Mary  Stuart, 
from  the  beiiinnino-  of  the  troubles  in  Scotland.  It 
was  to  Dumbarton  that  she  was  retreating  when  inter- 
cepted at  Langside.  Dumbarton  was  the  open  gate 
through  whicli  French  or  Spaniards  could  have  en- 
trance into  Scotland.  It  was  a  sanctuary  of  disaifec- 
tion  ;  a  shelter  for  English  Catholic  rebels  ;  a  residence 
for  a  French  minister,  who  was  kept  there  to  nourish 
hopes  Avhich  might  or  might  not  be  realised ;  and  com- 
mandino;  free  access  to  the  sea  was  a  focus  and  hotbed 
of  intrio;ues  with  the  Continental  Powers.  The  two 
Regents  had  watched  anxiously  for  a  chance  of  getting 
possession  of  it.  The  journey  in  which  Murray  lost 
his  life  had  been  undertaken  in  the  vain  hope  that  it 
would  be  surrendered.  Sir  William  Drury  surveyed 
it  after  he  had  destroyed  Hamilton  Castle,  and  a  ball 
from  a  ditch  had  nearly  ended  his  course  there.  The 
occupation  of  Dumbarton  by  an  English  garrison  was 
among  the  conditions  demanded  by  Elizabeth  in  the 
treaty.  But  for  the  present  Queen  Mary's  banner 
waved  above  the  battlements  on  Wallace's  Tower ; 
Fleming  was  still  in  command ;  the  Archbishop  of  St. 
Andrew's,  who  had  been  proclaimed  traitor  after  Mur- 
ray's murder,  found  shelter  behind  its  crags.  De 
Virac  was  there,  superintending  the  supplies  of  arms 
and  money  which  were  continually  coming  in  from 
France,  and  beside  others  there  was  a  young  English- 
man also,  named  Hall,  a  friend  of  Sir  Thomas  Stanley, 
who  had  been  concerned  in  the  last  Lancashire  con- 
spiracy. 


176  History  of  England.  [Ch.  xx. 

It  has  been  said  that  while    the  treaty  was    under 
consideration  in  London,  the  two  parties  in  Scotland 
had    suspended   hostilities.       The    conference   having 
broken  up,  the  armistice  was  not  to  be  renewed  and 
was    to    terminate  on  the  1st  of  April.     In    the  last 
week  of  March,  a  man  who  had  been  a  servant  in  the 
castle,  and  had  some  grudge  against  Lord  Fleming  for 
ill-treatment  of  his  wife,  came  to  Lennox  at  Glasgow, 
and  told  him  that  the  garrison  was  keeping  negligent 
watch,  and  that  the  place  might  be  surprised.     Craw- 
ford   of  Jordanhill,    Darnley's   last   friend,    who    had 
shared  his  confidence  on  Mary  Stuart's  fatal  visit  to 
him,  was  now  an  officer  of  Lennox's  guard.    Through- 
out the  civil  war,  when  any  exploit  of  note  and  mark 
was  to  be  accomplished,  Crawford  was  always  among 
the  foremost.     He  was  a  man  of  great  personal  cour- 
age, devoted  to  the  young  King,  and  one  of  those  who 
were  most  anxious  to  avenge  his  father's  murder.     He 
had  a  follower  of  his  own  who  had  once  lived  at  Dum- 
barton, and  knew  his  way  about  the  cliffs,  and  with 
this  man's  help  Crawford,  when  the  Regent  consulted 
him,  determined  to  undertake  the  enterprise.     If  done 
at  all  it  was  to  be  done  at  the  first  permissible  moment, 
before  the  recommencement  of  the  war  placed  Fleming 
again  upon  the  alert.     On  the  31st  of  March,  an  hour 
before  sunset,  Crawford,  with  one  of  the  Ramsays  and 
a  hundred  and  fifty  men,  went  quietly  out  of  Glasgow, 
carrying   with  them    ladders,    cords,    and  "crows  of 
iron  to  drive  into  the  rock."     A  party  of  horse  had 
been  sent  on  to  watch  the  road  and  prevent  intelli- 
gence from  being  carried  to  the  castle.     At  midnight 
they  were  at  Dumbuck,  a  mile  and  a  half  up  the  river. 
The    moon    set   shortly   after,    and   with   their   guns 
-  strapped  to   their  backs,   the   ladders  slung   between 


1571.]  The  Rdgn  of  Mizabeth.  177 

them,    and    attached    in  h'ne  by  the  cords  that    none 
might  stray,  they  stole  down  over  the  marshes  in  sin- 
gle file.     It  was  a  clear  starlight  night,  but  they  were 
delayed    more    than    once  by  the  broad  deep  ditches 
with  which  the  fields  were  intersected,  and  daylio-ht 
was  dangerously  near  when  they  reached  the  foot  of 
the  rock.     As  dawn  approached,  hoAvever,  the  moist 
air  from    the   Clyde    condensed   upon   the    crags   and 
wrapped  the  castle  in  vapour.     The  watch  was  weak- 
est where    the   rock  was  highest,  and   there,  exactly 
under  Wallace's  Tower,  at  the  northeast  corner  where 
the   road    from    the  town  first  touches  the  cliff,  they 
made  preparations  to  ascend.^     For  the  first  forty  feet 
there    was   a   sheer    precipice.     The    cliff  then    split, 
making  a  kind  of  funnel,  at  the  top  of  which  stood  a 
stunted  ash  tree,  and  above  that  a  steep  grassy  slope 
of  a  hundred  and  twenty  feet  up  to  the  foot  of  the 
wall.     Crawford  and  the  guide  went  up  first.      The 
ladder  brought  them  within  ten  or  twenty  feet  of  the 
tree,2  and  from  thence  they  scrambled  up  the  rock  in 
the  darkness  with  extreme  difficulty,  dragging  a  rope 
behind  them  which  they  succeeded  in  lashino-  to  the 
stem.     With  this  assistance  the  rest  rapidly  followed. 

1  The  spot  can  be  identified  with  certainty  by  the  ash  tree  —  not  that 
the  tree  now  growing  there  can  be  supposed  to  have  stood  three  hundred 
years,  or  thirty,  but  the  crack  in  the  rock  where  it  is  rooted  is  the  only 
spot  in  the  whole  circuit  of  the  place  where  a  tree  could  take  hold. 

2  Among  other  romantic  stories  which  gathered  round  Crawford's  ex- 
ploit, it  was  said  that  the  first  man  who  ascended  was  seized  with  a  tit 
when  half  way  up  the  ladder.  He  could  neither  go  forward  nor  come 
down,  and  blocked  the  way  for  those  below.  After  a  moment's  thought, 
Crawford  lashed  him  hand  and  foot  to  the  staves  so  that  he  could  not  fall, 
turned  the  ladder  o\er,  and  so  enabled  the  rest  to  pass  over  liim.  Craw- 
ford himself,  in  the  account  which  he  wrote  for  John  Knox,  says  nothing 
of  this;  and  I  fear  it  can  scarcely  be  reconciled  with  his  own  modest  but 
clear  declaration  that  he  was  himself  the  first  to  go  up.  —  See  IJannatyne's 
Juurnal,  p.  123. 

VOL.   X.  12 


178  Mistory  of  England.  [Ch.  xx. 

The  mist  which  concealed  them  from  the  guard  hap- 
pily deadened  the  sound.  They  collected  on  the  foot 
of  the  slope,  and  thence  an  easy  and  silent  climb  over 
thick  o-rass  brouo-ht  them  to  the  bottom  of  the  wall. 
To  draw  the  ladders  after  them  and  raise  them  in  their 
places  was  the  work  of  a  few  more  minutes,  and  a 
moment  after,  as  dawn  was  breaking,  the  astonished 
sentinels  saw  three  figures  loomins;  laroje  through  the 
fog  on  the  battlements  above  their  heads.  Ramsay 
was  the  first  to  enter :  with  a  shout  of  "  God  and  the 
King  !  "  "A  Darnley,  a  Darnley  !  "  he  leapt  down 
upon  the  half-awakened  soldiers  and  struck  tliem  to 
the  ground.  The  wall  was  carelessly  built  where  no 
danger  was  anticipated.  A  breach  was  easily  made 
through  it,  and  before  the  garrison  were  out  of  their 
beds  the  whole  party  had  entered,  and  Wallace's  Tow- 
er and  its  guns  were  in  their  hands.  The  place  was 
now  at  their  mei'cy.  The  inhabited  houses  were  in  a 
hollow  immediately  at  their  feet ;  a  few  soldiers,  half- 
naked  and  blinded  by  the  mist,  attempted  a  short  re- 
sistance. Three  were  killed,  and  some  others  wound- 
ed ;  but  when  they  found  that  their  cannon  were  taken 
and  turned  upon  them,  they  threw  down  their  arms  to 
their  unknown  enemy,  who  seemed  to  have  dropped 
upon  them  from  the  clouds.  Fleming  made  his  way 
to  the  water-gate  by  the  staircase  which  was  the  usual 
approach.  The  tide  was  in,  he  sprang  into  a  boat  and 
went  off  into  Argyleshire.  The  Archbishop  was  less 
fortunate.  Disturbed  out  of  his  sleep,  he  had  put  on 
a  steel  cap,  and  was  struggling  into  a  coat  of  mail, 
when  Crawford's  men  were  upon  him.  He  was  taken, 
and  Lady  Fleming  was  taken,  and  De  Virac  :  young 
Hall,  with  two  friends,  declared  themselves  English, 
drew   their   swords,    and    demanded    leave  to  depart. 


1571.1  TJie  Reign  of  Elizabeth.  179 

They  were  told  that  if  they  had  committed  no  crime 
against  their  sovereign  they  had  nothing  to  fear :  but 
for  the  present  they  must  be  considered  prisoners  hke 
the  rest. 

The  news  of  success  was  carried  rapidly  to  Glasgow, 
and  the  Regent  was  on  the  spot  by  ten  o'clock.  Of 
the  spoils,  the  money,  powder,  arms,  guns,  provisions, 
wine  —  the  stores  of  all  kinds,  so  carefullv  collected  to 
maintain  the  gamson  —  were  shared  among  the  cap- 
tors. Lennox  retained  only  the  Archbishop  and  his 
companions  in  captivity .^ 

It  was  supposed  at  first  that  so  remarkable  a  feat 
could  not  have  been  performed  without  the  help  of 
treachery.  But  Crawford  was  able  to  say  proudly 
"  that  he  had  had  no  manner  of  intellio-ence  within  the 
house  nor  without  the  house."  The  capture  was  a 
fair  achievement  of  daring  and  adroitness,  aided  only 
by  the  carelessness  which  had  invited  the  attempt. 
The  English  prisoners  were  sent  to  Berwick  ;  De 
Virac  was  allowed  to  go  his  way  ;  Lady  Fleming  was 
treated  with  the  utmost  courtesy  which  the  circum- 
stances allowed ;  and  the  garrison  was  pardoned  and 
dismissed. 

Archbishop  Hamilton  alone  was  preserved,  to  pay 
the  score  which  had  been  so  lone;  accumulatino; 
affainst  him. 

It  may  be  much  to  say  that  in  all  Scotland  there 
was  not  one  man  who  had  better  earned  a  halter  than 
the  Archbishop  of  St.  Andrew's.  There  was  the 
Calvinist  minister  of  Spott,  who  was  never  silent  about 
the  crimes  of  Queen  Mary,  when,  with  at  least  equal 

1  Compare  Buchanan's  Ilistory  of  Scotland.  Crawford's  letter  to  Knox 
in  Bannatyne's  Memorials,  and  a  letter  of  Sir  W.  Drury  to  Cecil,  April  9: 
MSB.  Bmdtr. 


180  History  of  England.  [di.  XxX. 

atrocity,  he  was  murdering  his  own  wife.  There  was 
Kennedy,  Earl  of  Cassihs,  who  roasted  the  Abbot  of 
Crossraguel  before  a  slow  fire  in  a  dungeon,  to  make 
him  sign  away  his  lands  ;  and  Hamilton  was  rather 
unfortunate  in  the  number  of  his  iniquities  which  were 
brouglit  to  light,  than  in  any  especial  distinction  above 
the  other  miscreants  of  his  time.  Of  a  Churchman  he 
had  nothmg  in  him  beyond  the  appetite  for  persecu- 
tion. It  was  he  who  had  burnt  Walter  Milne,  the 
last  of  the  Scottish  martyrs.  He  was  made  Beton's 
successor  only  because  he  was  the  brother  of  the  Duke 
of  Chatelheraidt,  and  because  the  revenue  of  the  arch- 
bishopric was  a  splendid  provision  for  his  vices.  He 
had  been  the  prime  adviser  in  the  late  intrigues  of 
his  family.  He  had  been  in  the  secret  of  the  murder 
of  Darnley.  It  removed  an  obstacle  between  the 
Hamiltons  and  the  Crown.  He  had  promoted  and 
pronounced  the  infamous  divorce  of  Both  well,  knowing 
or  hoping  that  in  marrying  him  the  Queen  would 
destroy  herself;  and  while  affecting  to  be  her  warmest 
friend,  he  had  offered  in  the  name  of  his  family  to  sup- 
port Morton  and  Lindsay  in  putting  her  to  death,  if 
the  Regency  was  given  back  to  his  brother,  and  the 
succession  after  the  Prince  secured  to  his  brother's 
heirs.  His  last  and  foulest  crime  had  been  the  murder 
of  Murray,  which  was  perpetrated  by  his  kinsman,  and 
traced  in  its  contrivance  to  himself,  his  nephews,  and 
Mary  Stuart's  household. 

There  was  but  one  gaoler  in  Scotland  Avhose  bolts 
neither  bribe  nor  intrigue  could  undo  ;  and  to  that 
dark  keeping  Lennox  hastened  to  consign  him.  He 
begged  hard  for  a  brief  respite,  if  only  that  he  might 
have  some  form  of  trial ;  but  the  Regent  knew  that  if 
he  waited  till  a  post  could  reach  London  and  return 


1571.]  The  Reign  of  Elizabeth.  181 

from  it,  his  hands  would  be  tied  by  the  Queen  of  Eng- 
land. The  notoriety  of  his  guilt  was  held  to  be  suffi- 
cient proof  against  him,  and  an  Act  of  a  so-called  Par- 
liament an  adequate  sentence.  He  was  sent  the  way 
of  his  predecessor  by  the  wild  justice  of  revenge.  Be- 
ton  had  been  stabbed  in  his  own  room,  dangled  out  of 
a  window  of  his  castle,  and  salted  in  the  dungeon  of 
the  Sea  Tower.  Hamilton  was  hanged  at  Stirling 
five  days  after  his  capture ;  some  not  unlettered  hand 
writing  upon  the  gibbet  — 

Cresce  diu,  felix  arbor,  semperque  vireto : 
Oh  utinam  semper  talia  poma  feras.i 

Elizabeth  forgave  easily  an  execution  which  her 
weakness  would  have  allowed  her  to  prevent.  She 
conoratulated  Lennox  on  his  success,  and  she  recom- 
mended  him  to  keep  Dumbarton  as  surely  as  it  had 
been  bravely  won.^ 

1  Long  may'st  thou  grow  and  thrive,  thou  bounteous  tree, 
To  bear  for  aye  such  fruits  as  this  we  see. 

2  Elizabeth  to  Lennox,  April  22 :  MSS.  Scotland. 


182  History  of  England,  [Ch.  xxi. 


CHAPTER  XXI. 

From  the  great  day  when  Wolsey  ceased  to  be  a 
minister,  when  Cardinal  Campeggio  left  England  car- 
rying with  him  the  curses  of  the  people  and  the  stolen 
love-letters  from  Henry  VIH.  to  Anne  Boleyn,  the 
Parliament  met  year  after  year  for  a  quarter  of  a  cen- 
tury, almost  without  intermission.  In  the  early  steps 
of  the  revolution,  whether  it  was  in  the  reconstruction 
of  the  law,  the  establishment  of  the  succession,  the  at- 
tainder of  a  minister,  or  the  decapitation  of  a  queen, 
the  representatives  of  the  people  were  seen,  for  good 
or  evil,  taking  their  share  in  the  actions  of  the  Crown. 

Whether  it  was,  according  to  the  modern  theory, 
that  the  parliaments  of  Henry  VIII.  were  but  the 
mechanical  instruments  of  a  despot's  caprice,  or  that 
the  great  body  of  the  nation  sincerely  approved  of  the 
King's  policy,  such  was  the  evident  fact ;  and  the  re- 
sult of  it  was  that  broad  mass  of  legislation  on  which 
the  ecclesiastical  constitution  of  England  reposes  —  a 
legislation  which  in  its  intellectual  structure,  and  in 
the  enduring  vitality  which  has  survived  so  many  cen- 
turies of  change,  proves  conclusively  tliat  whatever 
may  have  been  the  moral  character  of  the  statesmen 
in  whose  brain  those  laws  originated,  they  were  in 
sagacity  and  insight  inferior  to  none  in  the  illustrious 
list  of  the  public  servants  of  the  English  Common- 
wealth. 

The   practice    of  annual    or   frequent   parliaments, 


1571.]  The  Reign  of  Elizabeth.  18 


0 


commenced  by  King  Henry,  was  followed  reluctantly 
and  with  less  success  by  the  Protector  Somerset,  the 
Duke  of  Northumberland,  and  Queen  Mary.  Disa- 
greements naturally  rose  between  the  Crown  and  the 
Peers  and  Commons,  when  the  government  remained 
in  the  hands  of  one  or  other  of  the  extreme  parties  in 
the  country.  With  the  accession  of  Elizabeth  and  a 
return  to  a  more  moderate  policy,  the  good  under- 
standing might  have  been  expected  to  come  back.  It 
mioht  have  been  thought  that  the  Queen  would  have 
followed  the  example  of  her  father  in  this  respect,  if  in 
no  other,  so  confessedly  excellent,  and  that  no  season 
would  have  been  allowed  to  pass  without  the  opinion 
of  the  country  being  allowed  to  express  itself  through 
its  legitimate  channel. 

The  anticipation,  however,  if  entertained  by  the  peo- 
ple, had  not  been  fulfilled.  Elizabeth  had  now  reigned 
thirteen  years,  and  in  all  that  time  there  had  been  but 
three  short  sessions.  She  was  personally  popular  — 
popular  for  her  own  qualities,  and  popular  because  her 
life  was  the  only  breakwater  between  the  country  and 
civil  war  ;  vet  the  Parliament  of  1566  had  been  dis- 
solved  in  diso-race,  and  she  looked  forward  to  another 
as  the  most  unwelcome  of  necessities. 

The  reason  Avas  not  far  to  look  for.  The  succession 
to  the  crown  was  still  undetermined.  The  religious 
differences,  which  would  have  died  away  with  an  as- 
certained future,  had  been  aggravated  by  the  uncer- 
tainty. The  marriage  of  the  Queen,  so  naturally  and 
justly  desired,  was  still  in  the  clouds ;  the  value  of  it  as 
a  means  of  providing  an  heir  to  the  crown  was  sinking 
to  zero  with  her  advancing  years,  and  the  exj)erience 
of  the  last  session  might  well  make  her  imwiliing  to 
encounter  another  while  still  unprovided  witii  a  hus- 


184  History  of  England.  [Ch.  xxi. 

band.     If  the  dread  of  a  disputed  succession  secured 
to  the  Queen  of  Scots,  notwithstanding  her  crimes,  the 
tacit  or  avowed  support  of  the  great  conservative  party, 
her  claims  on  the  consideration  of  Parhament,  had  she 
come  upon  it  with  clean  hands,  would  have  been  alto- 
gether irresistible.     Her   friends  would    have  said   to 
Elizabeth,  "  We  can  bear  our  uncertainties  no  longer. 
Here  by  the  laws  of  blood  is  your  undoubted  heir,  bred 
from   a   marriage    contrived    by   your   gi*andfather  to 
unite  this  island  inider  one  head,  and  bringing  Scotland 
in  her  hand  as  her  dowry.     Would  you  have  married 
as  we  desired,  and  as  you  promised,  you  might  have 
had  children  of  your  own,  and  one  and  all  of  us  would 
have    been    true  to  you    and   yours.     But   you  have 
played  with  the  princes  of  Christendom  till  you  have 
offended  them  all  and  have  left  us  without  an  ally  in 
the  world.     You  are  thirty-eight  years  old,  and  you 
have    no   husband,    no  child,  nor  likelihood  of  child. 
Our  lives,  our  pi'operties,  our  national  independence 
are  at  stake,  and  we  wdll  bear  it  no  longer.     It  is  true 
that  the  Queen  of  Scots  when  in  France  made  unwise 
pretensions  to  your  crown  ;  we  will  secure  you  against 
a  repetition  of  that  danger.     She  shall  promise  to  re- 
spect your  rights  while  you  live.     She  is  a  Catholic, 
and  so  are  more   than   half  your  subjects,  but  we  de- 
sire no  revolution,  no  bloody  Mary  to  rule  over  us  ; 
there  shall  be  toleration  on  all  sides  and  equal  liber- 
ty to  Protestant  and  Catholic  to  worship  in  their  own 
way." 

This  would  have  been  the  unanimous  language  of 
the  English  Nobles  ;  a  majority  of  the  Commons  would 
have  gone  along  with  them,  and  with  what  pretence 
could  Elizabeth  have  resisted  ?  She  could  not  have 
resisted   at    all.     She  would  have  had  no  power  and 


1571.]  TJie  Reign  of  Elizaheth.  185 

probably  no  will  to  resist ;  and  bej'ond  reasonable 
doubt  Parliament  would  not  have  again  separated  till 
the  long-vexed  question  had  been  determined  in  Mary 
Stuart's  favour. 

The  prospects  of  a  lady  who  had  presided  over  the 
horrors  at  Kirk-a-Field  were  far  less  promising.  The 
political  reasons  in  favour  of  her  succession  were  as 
strong  as  ever  ;  but  it  was  no  longer  possible  for  an  Eng- 
lish nobleman  to  rise  in  Parliament  and  speak  openly 
for  her  title.  Her  cause  was  now  maintained  in  the 
dark  by  conspiracy  and  rebellion  —  rebellion  under  false 
pretences,  and  lying  pamphlets,  and  parallels  of  David. 
The  Catholic  religion,  shrinkino;  from  the  light  among 
these  subterranean  elements,  was  losing  what  of  Eng- 
lish frankness  there  lay  in  it,  and  was  walking  in  the 
dark  with  its  hand  upon  the  poniard.  But  this  darker 
turn  which  affairs  were  taking  was  due  itself  to  the 
disappointment  of  more  legitimate  hopes.  The  Catho- 
lic party  could  find  no  other  representative.  Mary 
Stuart,  as  they  again  and  again  said,  was  their  only 
hope,  and  they  were  themselves  degraded  to  the  level 
of  the  cause  which  they  were  supporting.  Passion 
and  fanaticism  were  called  in  to  defend  what  reason 
could  not  justify ;  the  religious  reaction  was  precipi- 
tated into  the  most  extravagant  forms  ;  and  Puritanism 
on  the  other  side  was  destroying  much  that  was  left  of 
moderate  counsels.  Had  Elizabeth  published  AFary 
Stuart's  letters  after  the  enquiry  at  Westminster  —  had 
she  done  this,  and  coupled  with  it  the  recognition  of 
James  as  King  of  Scotland  and  her  successor  —  half 
her  own  troubles  would  have  been  avoided,  and  half 
the  national  ])erils.  But  she  had  allowed  the  opi)ortu- 
nity  to  ])ass,  and  she  could  not  recall  it.  The  two 
Houses  were  now  divided,  and  were  the  representa- 


186  History  of  England.  [Ch.  xxi. 

tives  of  two  religions  and  two  policies.  The  Norfolk 
marriage  was  likely  to  be  revived  among  the  Peers 
and  pressed  upon  her  consent ;  the  Commons  would 
probably  boil  over  in  some  fierce  stream  of  anti-Pop- 
ery, insist  on  declaring  the  Queen  of  Scots  incapable 
of  the  succession,  and  recognising  one  of  Lord  Hert- 
ford's chikh-en  ;  while  both  alike  would  combine  in 
not  undeserved  reproaches  against  herself. 

It  was  no  wonder  that  Elizabeth  dreaded  the  meet- 
ing of  another  Parliament,  but  an  empty  treasury 
made  longer  delay  impossible.  The  suspension  of 
commei'ce  had  ruined  the  customs.  Ireland  absorbed 
annually  almost  a  fourth  of  the  ordinary  revenue  ;  and 
Scotland,  and  the  navy,  and  the  expenses  of  the  Bor- 
der, and  the  secret-service  money  —  taking  the  form 
chiefly  of  subsidies  to  the  Prince  of  Orange  and  the 
Huguenots  —  were  making  demands  upon  the  excheq- 
uer which  no  economy  could  meet.  The  lands  of  the 
Northern  Earls  could  not  be  touched  till  they  were  at- 
tainted, and  in  some  form  or  other  the  Bull  of  Pope 
Pius  required  an  answer  from  the  nation. 

The  Houses  were  to  meet  on  the  2d  of  April. 
The  forty  noblemen  who  were  parties  to  the 
Ridolfi  plot  would  be  in  London  with  their 
retinues  ;  and  the  Queen  of  Scots,  who  had  reason  to 
believe  that  measures  micfht  be  introduced  unflivoura- 
ble  to  herself,  and  who  recollected  how  Morton,  Lind- 
say, and  Ruthven  had  broken  up  the  Parliament  at 
Edinburgh  which  was  to  have  attainted  Murray,  con- 
ceived that  the  same  game  might  be  repeated  by  her 
present  friends  with  equal  success.  The  Duke  of 
Alva's  willingness  to  assist  her  would  be  proportioned 
to  the  energy  of  the  English  Catholics  themselves. 
The    Duke    of    Norfolk,    though    released   from    the 


1571.]  The  Reign  of  Elizabeth.  1S7 

Tower,  was  not  to  be  allowed  to  take  his  seat  amonir 
the  Peers.  The  great  party  of  which  he  was  the 
leader  was  deeply  affronted,  and  their  resentment 
might  be  utilized  to  practical  effect.  The  servants  and 
followers  of  the  Lords  would  be  sufficient,  if  combined, 
to  overcome  the  utmost  resistance  which  could  be  of- 
fered by  the  Court ;  and  the  Queen  of  Scots  once 
more  endeavoured  to  spur  her  languid  lover  into  en- 
ergy. She  recommended  him  and  Arundel  to  surprise 
the  Queen,  seize  her  and  Cecil,  and  before  the  opening 
scatter  such  of  the  Commons  as  had  arrived,  and  so 
end  the  Anjou  marriage  and  all  other  troubles  at  a 
single  blow.i  'pj^g  scheme  was  perhaps  not  impracti- 
cable. The  Court  suspected  nothing.  The  Bishop 
of  Ross  talked  it  over  with  the  Catholic  leaders. 
Arundel,  Lumley,  "Worcester,  Southampton,  Monta- 
gue, and  several  others,  were  ready.  Lord  Derby's 
sons  had  come  up  with  some  hundreds  of  Lancashire 
gentlemen,  and  were  eager  for  any  desperate  enter- 
prise. Young  Talbot  had  arranged  a  plan  for  the 
simultaneous  escape  of  the  Queen  of  Scots ;  relays  of 
horses  were  provided,  and  a  ship  was  in  readiness  at 
Liverpool  to  carry  her  to  the  Isle  of  Man  till  the  strug- 
gle in  England  should  be  over.^     Nothing,  however, 

1  Confession  of  the  Bishop  of  Ross,  October,  1571 :  Murdin.  Barker's 
Confession:  Ibid. 

2  Several  projects  had  been  formed  to  get  her  out  of  Sheffield,  some  de- 
tails of  which  were  discovered  by  the  I'^arl  of  Morton  on  his  way  bade  to 
Scotland.  "  She  would  feign  herself  ill  for  two  or  three  daj's,  and  then  be 
taken  down  stairs  to  see  the  dancing."  She  was  to  dance  herself,  affect  to 
faint,  and  be  carried  to  her  room.  One  of  her  women,  dressed  like  her, 
would  take  her  place  on  the  bed,  while  she,  in  the  disguise  of  a  page, 
would  escape  from  a  postern.  If  this  failed,  she  was  to  go  hunting,  one  of 
her  ladies  representing  her,  and  she  again  as  a  page.  A  Scot  was  to  come 
in  post  with  a  pretended  commission  from  Elizabeth  to  speak  with  her.  He 
would  address  himself  to  the  lady,  who  when  he  retired  would  direct  the 
page  to  wait  upon  him  :  or 

"  She  should  cut  her  hair,  blot  her  face  and  body  with  llkh  as  though 


188  History  of  England.  [Ch.  xxi. 

could  be  clone  without  Norfolk,  and  Norfolk  was  one 
of  those  unlucky  conspirators  who  wait  always  for  a 
better  opportunity.  The  Bishop  of  Ross  laid  the  de- 
sign before  him,  and  showed  him  the  promises  of  his 
friends.  But  the  little  decision  which  he  possessed 
was  unnerved  by  the  badness  of  his  cause.  He  knew 
too  well  the  nature  of  the  woman  for  whom  he  was 
turning  traitor,  and  when  he  was  warming  to  the 
striking  point,  the  thought  of  it  froze  the  blood  in  his 
veins. 1  "  Too  dastardly  and  soft,"  as  the  disappointed 
Catholics  called  him,  "  unfit  alike  for  good  or  ill  ;  "  he 
said  he  did  not  like  "  Italian  devices  ;  "  "  he  would 
attempt  nothing  till  he  got  answer  from  the  princes  be- 
yond the  seas."  ^ 

Thus  the  occasion  passed,  and  Parliament  opened 
in  peace,  the  Protestant  party  being  strengthened  in 
the  Upper  House  by  the  presence  of  the  Queen's 
cousin,  lately  created  Lord  Buckhurst,  and,  far  more 
important,  of  Cecil,  whose  long  services  had  been 
rewarded,  on  the  25th  of  February,  by  the  Barony  of 
Burghley.  Including  these  two,  there  were  now  sixty- 
one  Peers  upon  the  list,  besides  Westmoreland  and 
Morley,  who  were  in  Flanders,  and  the  Earl  of  North- 
umberland, who  was  at  Lochleven.  Of  the  sixty-one,  . 
Lord  Cumberland  and  Lord  Bath  were  under  age. 
Norfolk  was  not  allowed  to  sit,  and  to  compensate  for 
his  absence  Hertford  was  excluded  also.     Lord  Derby 

she  was  a  turnbroach  of  the  kitchen,  and  so  convey  herself  forth  on  foot  to 
some  place  where  horses  should  be  provided  for  her."  —  Morton  to  Cecil, 
April  7 :  MSS.  Queen  of  Scots. 

1  "  I  confess  that  I,  waiting  on  my  Lord  and  master,  did  hear  his  Grace 
say  that  upon  examination  of  the  matter  of  the  murder,  it  did  appear  that 
the  Queen  of  Scots  was  guilty  and  privy  to  the  murder  of  the  Lord  Darn- 
ley,  her  late  husband."  — Barker's  Confession:  Murdin,  p.  134. 

2  Confession  of  the  Bishop  of  Ross,  October,  1571 :  Murdin.  Barker's 
Confession:  Ibid. 


1571.]  Tlie  Reign  of  Elizabetli.  189 

was  ill  and  could  not  come  up,  and  Shrewsbury  could 
not  leave  his  charo-e.  Ei";ht  others  were  absent  for 
various  reasons,  and  seven  of  the  twenty-two  Bishops. 
The  Upper  House  Avas  therefore  composed  of  sixty-two 
members  in  all.  The  Bishops  were  to  a  man  under 
Cecil's  direction,  and  their  uiiited  vote,  including  the 
proxies,  could  always  be  depended  upon.  Seven  of 
the  absent  Peers  gave  their  proxies  to  Leicester,  and 
Leicester  would  not  go  over  to  the  Catholics  till  he 
saw  that  they  were  certain  to  succeed.  So  far,  there- 
fore, the  prospects  of  the  Government  were  favourable. 
Lord  Arundel,  with  the  E.idolfi  revolution  in  front  of 
him,  was  unlikely  to  try  the  experiment,  under  such 
circumstances,  of  a  Parliamentary  conflict. 

The  proceedings  commenced,  as  usual,  with  a  speech 
from  the  Lord  Keeper.  It  was  long,  but  contained 
little  beyond  an  encomium  on  the  Queen's  Government, 
and  an  intimation  that,  throuo-li  "  the  rao-ini;;  Romanist 
rebels,"  the  Queen  had  incurred  extraordinary  expenses 
in  defence  of  the  kingdom,  and  required  money.  She 
had  reduced  her  personal  outlay,  cutting  off  all  need- 
less luxuries  and  extravagancies,  to  avoid  being  a 
burden  to  her  people ;  but  the  peace  of  the  realm  had 
been  disturbed  both  at  home  and  in  Ireland.  The 
malice  of  the  time  obliged  her  to  keep  a  fleet  upon  the 
seas  for  the  protection  of  commerce.  The  state  of 
parties  in  Scotland  required  the  presence  of  a  large 
force  upon  the  Border,  and  with  the  utmost  economy 
she  was  unable  to  meet  the  demands  upon  her.  This, 
with  two  short  paragraphs  on  a  revision  of  the  laws, 
was  all,  in  substance,  which  Bacon  said.  The  suc- 
cession, the  excommunication,  the  Queen's  marriage  — 
the  subjects  which  really  occupied  all  men's  minds  — 
were  passed  over  in  silence.     A  reform  in  the  disci- 


190  History  of  England.  [Ch.  xxi. 

pline  of  the  Church  w-as  admitted  to  be  necessary,  but 
a  wish  was  pointedly  expressed  that  it  should  be  left 
to  the  Bishops. 

Had  the  Parliament  confined  themselves  to  the 
programme  thus  marked  out  for  them,  the  Session 
would  have  passed  over  quietly.  So  long  as  no  at- 
tempt was  made  to  cut  the  Queen  of  Scots  off  from 
the  succession,  the  Peers  would  have  been  content  to 
wait  to  assert  her  claims  after  the  arrival  of  Alva  ;  and 
the  Commons  were  intended  to  restrict  themselves  to 
voting  the  supplies. 

The  Commons,  however,  were  in  no  humour  to  be 
thus  easily  managed.  The  ultra  Protestants  proved 
to  be  in  an  enormous  majority.  The  rebellion  of  the 
North,  and  the  general  necessity  of  things,  had  de- 
veloped largely  and  freely  the  Puritan  spii'it  of  the 
towns  ;  and  the  Catholic  reaction  in  the  country  dis- 
tricts, the  loose  administration  of  the  laws,  and  the 
notoriously  Romanizing  tendencies  of  the  Peers  and 
countrv  families,  acted  as  a  challeno;e  to  the  fiercer  of 
the  Reformers  to  trv  their  streno-th  with  them.  For 
ten  years  past  there  had  beeii  an  earnest  desire  in  the 
Reforming  leaders  to  inflict  the  Thirty-nine  Articles 
both  on  clergy  and  laity  as  a  test  of  doctrine,  to  re- 
form the  Prayer-book,  and  impose  on  England  gener- 
ally the  Genevan  discipline.  As  a  step  in  this  direc- 
tion, on  the  first  day  on  which  the  Houses  met  for 
business,  a  Bill  was  inti'oduced  to  compel  all  persons, 
of  whatever  degree,  not  only  to  attend  service  on  Sun- 
days at  church,  but  to  be  present  twice  a-year  at  the 
Communion. 

The  tongues  of  men,  findino;  themselves  unloosed  at 
last,  ran  over  at  once  wath  a  violence  unprecedented  in 
House  of  Commons'  history.     Complaints  burst  out  of 


1571.]  The  Reign  of  Elizabeth.  191 

the  laxity  with  which  the  laws  against  Papists  had 
been  enforced.  The  Catholic  services  were  prohibited, 
yet  all  over  Eno-land  masses  were  said  in  private 
houses  with  scarcely  an  attempt  at  disguise.  The  ec- 
clesiastical lawyers  were  runnino;  in  the  old  orooves, 
with  pluralities  and  dispensations  and  licenses,  those 
gray  iniquities  of  which  Henry  had  for  a  few  years 
washed  the  Church  Courts  clean.  Mr.  Strickland,  "  a 
grave  and  antient  man,"  declared  that  "  known  Papists 
were  admitted  to  have  ecclesiastical  government  and 
great  livings,  while  godly  Protestants  had  nothing," 
and  "  boys  were  dispensed  with  to  have  spiritual  pro- 
motion." God,  he  said,  had  given  England  the  light 
of  the  Word,  but  England  had  been  slack  in  making 
use  of  its  advantages,  and  had  not  thought  convenient 
to  profess  and  publish  the  truth  openly.  He  moved 
for  a  reproduction  of  Cranmer's  book  on  the  Reforma- 
tion of  the  Laws,  that  the  country  might  take  its  place 
at  last  amono;  the  Reformed  nations,  with  a  clear  con- 
fession  of  its  faith. 

Free  speech  in  Parliament  had  been  one  of  the  priv- 
ileges which  Henry  VHI.  had  not  attempted  to  inter- 
fere with.  Elizabeth  could  never  bring  herself  to  re- 
gard  it  as  anything  but  an  intolerable  impertinence. 
Sir  Thomas  Smith,  who  had  succeeded  Cecil  as  her 
Secretary,  proposed  that  the  Communion  Bill  should 
be  refeiTed  to  the  Bishops ;  the  Queen  sent  a  message 
to  the  House  not  to  waste  their  time  over  matters 
which  did  not  concern  them,  and  "  to  avoid  long 
speeches." 

Fleetwood,  however  (afterwards  the  Recorder  of 
London  ),  said  that  the  House  "  knew  that  there  was  a 
God  to  be  served  as  well  as  the  Bishops  ;  "  "  when 
Bills  were  referred  to  the  Bench,  they  commonly  came 


192  History  of  England.  [Ch.  xxi. 

to  nothing ;  "  "  the  Bishops  would  perhaps  be  slow," 
and  they  could  do  better  without  them. 

The  Queen's  monition  was  unheeded,  and  the  dis- 
cussion went  on  more  fiercely  than  ever.  Mr.  Snagg 
insisted  on  the  insufficiency  of  the  Act  of  Uniformity. 
In  some  churches  the  Common  Prayer  was  not  used  at 
all.  There  was  only  a  sermon,  and  such  prayers,  ex- 
tempore, as  the  minister  might  choose  to  offer.  Mr. 
Norton  broke  into  invectives  on  the  abuse  "  of  benefit 
of  clergy,''  "  the  straining  of  the  law  by  ecclesiastical 
judges  in  favour  of  offenders  in  Holy  Orders,"  "  the 
wrapping  clerks  in  a  cloak  of  naughtiness,  and  giving 
them  liberty  to  sin."  The  dispensations  in  the  Court 
of  Arches  were  attacked  speciall}'  and  bitterly.  Bish- 
ops, it  was  presumed,  "  could  do  nothing  contrary  to 
the  Word  of  God,"  yet,  like  Popes,  they  kept  open 
offices  for  the  sale  of  licenses  to  disobey  the  law. 

So  the  storm  broke  on  all  sides,  and  for  three  weeks 
it  raged  incessantly.  Some  language  was  heard  not 
wholly  immoderate.  Aglionby,  the  Member  for  War- 
wick, raised  his  solitary  voice  for  liberty  of  conscience. 
"  He  did  not  approve,"  he  said,  "  of  the  private  orato- 
ries in  the  Great  Houses  ;  he  would  give  the  rich  no 
privileges  which  the  poor  could  not  share,  and  both 
alike  should  be  obliged  to  appear  in  their  parish  church. 
But  receiving  the  Communion  was  something  more 
than  an  ordinary  outward  observance,  and  he  thought 
that  the  law  ought  not  to  meddle  with  it.  Men  were 
excommunicated  because  they  were  wicked,  but  to 
force  men  to  communicate  because  they  were  suspected 
of  being  wicked  was  an  anomaly  beyond  reason  or  prec- 
edent." But  Aglionby  was  briefly  told  that  the  peace 
of  the  realm  was  of  more  importance  than  conscience. 
The  Israelites  were  not  allowed  to  refuse  to   eat  the 


1571.]  The  Reign  of  Elizabeth.  193 

Passover,  and  the  makers  of  laws  were  not  called  upon 
to  respect  tlie  obstinacy  of  fools  and  knaves.  It  was 
enougli  if  what  Parliament  prescribed  was  right  in  it- 
self, and  if  the  people  were  unfit  to  obey,  they  must 
make  themselves  fit. 

Two  of  the  officers  of  the  Household  attempted  to 
bring  back  the  debate  to  the  subjects  mentioned  in  the 
Speech.  The  Parliament,  Sir  James  Crofts  said,  had 
met  on  business  of  immediate  and  serious  moment  ; 
the  Queen  being  Head  of  the  Church,  might  be  trusted 
to  do  what  was  right,  and  the  hasty  proceedings  of  the 
House  of  Commons,  "  before  and  contrary  to  the  law, 
might  rather  hinder  than  help."  But  Crofts  was  sus- 
pected to  be  a  concealed  Catholic ;  a  Mr.  Pistor,  a 
Puritan,  brief  and  stern,  and  "  much  approved  by  the 
House,"  complained  rather  of  the  waste  of  time  over 
mere  secular  business,  when  the  cause  of  God  was  in 
danger  ;  subsidies,  crowns,  realms,  what  were  these, 
he  said,  but  dust  and  ashes.  It  was  written,  "  Seek 
first  the  kingdom  of  God." 

Whatever  may  have  been  Elizabeth's  private  feel- 
ings when  she  found  herself  thus  defied,  she  showed 
outw^ardly  remarkable  self-command.  She  knew  and 
valued  the  men  who  were  thus  provoking  her,  and  she 
forced  herself  to  bear  with  them.  Strickland  fell  un- 
der her  displeasure.  He  introduced  a  measure  without 
permission  for  the  alteration  of  the  Prayer-book,  and 
he  was  sent  for,  reprimanded,  and  forbidden  to  return 
to  the  House.  But  a  universal  cry  of  Privilege 
warned  her  to  be  cautious,  and  she  withdrew  her  pro- 
hibition. Thus  the  Commons  persisted,  passing  meas- 
ure after  measure,  —  the  Bill  for  attendance  at  Com- 
munion, of  which  no  draft  remains  to  indicate  the  pro- 
visions of  it ;    a  Bill   which  ha.s  also  perished,  restrict- 

VOL.   X.  V.i 


194  History  of  England.  [Ch.  xxi. 

ing  or  abolishing  the  dispensing  power  of  the  Court 
of  Arches ;  and  a  Bill  which  unfortunately  did  not 
share  the  fate  of  its  companions,  and  made  its  way  to 
the  statute-book  to  trouble  the  peace  of  broader  times. 
Convocation,  nine  years  before,  had  reimposed  upon 
the  clergy,  so  far  as  they  had  power  to  legislate,  the 
too  celebrated  Thirty-nine  Articles  of  Religion.  The 
Parliament  had  then  refused  their  sanction  to  a  meas- 
ure which  went  far  beyond  the  most  extravagant  pre- 
tensions of  the  Church  of  Rome  in  laying  a  yoke  upon 
the  conscience.  But  their  moderation  forsook  them 
now.  The  heavy  chains  descended.  The  fliith  of 
England,  which,  but  for  this  fatal  step,  might  have  ex- 
panded with  the  growth  of  the  nation,  was  hardened 
into  unclianeino;  formulas,  and  intellect  was  condemned 
to  make  its  further  progress  unsanctified  by  religion, 
the  enemy  of  the  Church  instead  of  being  its  hand- 
maid.^ 

A  Bill  became  law  also  to  check  the  profligate  ad- 
ministration of  Church  pi'operty  by  ecclesiastical  cor- 
porations ;  ^  and  a  companion  measure  was  introduced, 
originally  perhaps  as  part  of  the  same  statute,  so  sin- 
gular in  some  of  its  provisions  as  to  deserve  particular 
notice.  Puritanism  had  not  yet  blinded  the  eyes  of 
Protestants  to  the  merits  of  the  faith  of  their  fathers  ; 
the  House  of  Commons  could  still  acknowledge  an 
excellence  in  the  clergy  of  earlier  times,  to  which  they 
saw  but  faint  approaches  in  the  degenerate  ministry 
which  had  taken  the  place  of  the  CathoKc  priests. 

"  The    Queen's  noble   progenitors,"  so  ran   an  Act 
which  never  reached  maturity,  "  had  in  times  past  en- 
dowed the  clergy  of  the  realm  with  most  ample  and 
large  possessions,  that  godly  religion  might  be  the  bet- 
1  13  Elizabeth,  cap.  12.  2  ibid.,  cap.  10. 


1571.]  TJie  Reign  of  Elizabeth.  195 

ter  advanced  among  the  people,  that  the  poor  might  be 
reheved,  the  children  of  the    nobihty  and   gentlemen 
of  the    realm  be  virtuously  educated  in  the  fear  and 
knowledge  of  the  Almighty.     Whether  the  revenues 
of  these  estates  were  now  employed  and  bestowed  ac- 
cording  to    the   intent  and  meaning  of  their   donors, 
was    a    thing  to  be    pondered   and    considered.     The 
clergy  being  now  married  and  having  wives,  did  over- 
much alienate  their  minds  from  the  honest  and  care- 
ful duty  to  which  they  were  bound  to  attend.     The 
poor  were  left  in  their  poverty.     The  ancient  hospi- 
tality  was   no  longer  maintained.     The  ministers   of 
the  Church  accepted  and  reserved  the  most  part  and 
portion  of  the  yearly  revenues  of  their  dignities  unto 
themselves,  to  the  slander  of  the  whole  estate  of  the 
clergy."     The  remedy  was  not    to  return  to  the  old 
law  of  celibacy,  and  it  was  admitted  that  ecclesiastics, 
if  they  brought  children  into  the  world,  ought  to  pro- 
vide for  them;   yet,  so  great  a  change  could  not  be 
passed  over  without  the  expression  of  an  opinion,  that 
it  was  no  matter  for  entire  satisfaction.      The  framers 
of  the  bill  desired  to  intimate,  "  that  Archbishops  and 
Bishops,   Deans  and    Provosts  of  Colleges,    ouo^ht    to 
maintain    their    households    on  the  old  and    generous 
scale  ;    and  for  the  necessary  evils,  their  wives,  those 
ladies  should  consider  tliat  they  were  the  companions 
of  learned  men,  who  had  charge  and  care  of  the  whole 
realm  as  concerning  the  doctrine  of  faith    and    o-ood 
examples  of  life :   it  was  their  duty  therefore,  as  sad 
and  discreet  matrons,  to  bestow  their  time  in  devout 
and  godly  exercises,  prayers,  almsdeeds,  ministering  to 
the    poor,  with    such    like    works  of  charity.       They 
ought  not,  as  was  now  far  otherwise  reported  to  be, 
much  to  the  blemishing  of  their  good  name,  to  intrude 


196  History  of  JEngland.  [Ch.  xxi. 

and  press  themselves  into  the  worldly  affairs  of  any 
such  State  and  Government."  ^ 

One  after  another  these  measures  went  up  to  the 
House  of  Lords.  The  Queen  interfered  once 
more.  On  the  1st  of  May  she  sent  a  mes- 
sage to  the  Commons,  that  Church  questions  be- 
longed to  herself,  and  that  they  had  no  business  with 
them.  But  they  took  no  notice  ;  she  required  money, 
and  she  let  them  go  their  own  way  till  the  subsidy  was 
voted. 

To  the  Peers,  the  Communion  Bill  was  most  unwel- 
come. They  knew  it  to  be  aimed  at  themselves,  and 
deputations  of  Catholic  noblemen  waited  on  the  Queen 
to  remonstrate.  Troubled  as  she  was  with  her  Anjou 
marriage,  and  intending  if  necessary  to  escape  out  of 
it  through  her  Protestant  orthodoxy,  Elizabeth  did  not 
care  to  commit  herself  too  positively  on  the  Catholic 
side.  A  committee  of  the  two  Houses  sat  to  consider 
if  it  could  be  remodelled  ;  but  the  one  supremely  un- 
palatable condition  could  not  be  shaken  off;  the  undi- 
vided phalanx  of  the  twenty-two  Prelates  never  fail- 
ing, who  turned  the  scale  in  every  division. 

One  Catholic  nobleman  said  tauntingly,  that  if  the 
Right  Reverend  Lords  could  agree  among  themselves 
as  to  what  they  requix'ed  the  laity  to  receive  in  the 
Sacrament,  they  might  get  over  their  objections  ;  at 
present  every  parish  had  its  own  theory  on  the  matter  ; 
and  being  charged  as  they  were  with  the  custody  of 
their  own  souls,  the  Peers  as  well  as  others  had  a  right 
to  their  own  opinions.^ 

Burghley,  however,  lent  his  great  weight  to  put 
down  the  opposition.     "  The  quiet  of  the  realm,"  he 

1  Act  for  the  Bishops  and  Clergy,  1571 :  MSS.  Domestic,  Rolls  House. 

2  La  Mothe  F(?nelon,  May  18:  Depeches,  Vol.  IV. 


1571.]  The  Reign  of  Elizabeth.  197 

said,  "  required  that  the  measure  should  be  passed. 
Liberty  of  conscience  was  generally  good,  but  after 
the  step  which  the  Pope  had  chosen  to  take,  religion 
had  been  made  a  question  of  allegiance.  The  State 
was  in  danger,  and  the  Queen's  throne  had  been  made 
insecure."  ^ 

The  Bill  passed,  and  waited  only  for  the  Queen's 
consent.  In  and  out  among  these  debates,  other  busi- 
ness went  forward  of  no  little  moment ;  but  of  more 
importance  than  any  one  of  the  special  measures 
brought  forward  were  these  signs  of  the  humour  of 
the  Commons.  The  heart  of  Protestant  England  was 
alive ;  a  deep  earnest  fear  of  God  was  spreading  in 
the  middle  classes,  on  the  Jewish  rather  than  on  the 
Christian  model ;  a  recognition  of  a  Divine  Sover- 
eignty, which  it  was  their  business,  in  spite  of  knight 
or  noble,  to  see  recognised  and  obeyed  upon  earth. 
With  a  better  cause,  and  a  lady  worthy  of  their  de- 
votion, the  Catholics  might  still  have  won  ;  but  Kirk- 
a-Field  and  the  Bothwell  marriage  were  worth  a  legion 
of  angels  to  English  Protestantism. 

Of  thirty-nine  other  Acts  which  passed  before  the 
session  ended,  the  following  were  specially  noticeable. 
It  was  tacitly  understood  that  Mary  Stuart's  name  was 
not  to  be  mentioned,  but  a  Bill  was  introduced,  which 
in  its  original  form  would  have  cut  her  off  from  the 
succession  as  eifectually  as  if  she  had  been  directly 
designated.  The  excommunication  had  made  it  neces- 
sary  to  shield  the  Queen  with  more  stringent  laws, 
and  to  reenact  in  a  modified  form  the  repealed  statiites 
of  Henry  VIII.  It  was  proposed  that  "  to  affirm,  by 
word  or  writing,  that  the  Queen  was  not  Queen,  or 
that  any  other  jjerson  ought  to  be  Queen,  or  that  the 
1  La  Mothe  FcSnelon,  May  13 :  JJepeches,  Vol.  IV. 


198  History  of  England.  [Ch.  xxi. 

Queen  was  a  heretic,  schismatic,  tyrant,  infidel,  or 
usurper  of  the  crown,"  though  not  followed  by  any 
overt  act,  should  be  high  treason.  Any  person,  who 
during  the  Queen's  life  should  lay  claim  to  the  Ci'own, 
or  that  had  already  laid  claim  to  the  Crown,  or  should 
not,  on  demand,  acknowledge  the  Queen  to  be  lawful 
sovereign  of  England,  should  be  declared  incapable  of 
succeeding  to  the  Crown  after  the  Queen's  decease. 
It  should  be  high  treason  to  maintain  the  right  of  any 
such  person  ;  or  to  deny  the  power  of  Parliament  to 
order  the  succession  ;  and  "  to  avoid  contention  of 
titles,"  no  person  except  the  Queen's  children,  or  not 
otherwise  specially  named  and  chosen  by  Parliament, 
was  to  be  regaixled  or  spoken  of  as  heir  to  the  throne, 
under  penalties  of  forfeiture  and  outlawry.^ 

Some  measure  of  this  kind  the  Catholics  in  Parlia- 
ment could  not  refuse  to  pass  without  open  confession 
of  disloyalty  ;  all  that  they  could  reasonably  attempt 
was  to  blunt  the  personal  application  of  it.  The  Bill 
was  thrown  like  a  shuttlecock  from  House  to  House, 
and  from  Committee  to  Committee.  The  Queen  of 
Scots  was  in  the  mind  of  all  and  in  the  mouths  of  none. 
The  Protestants  were  struo-oling  to  extinguish  her  and 
her  pretensions,  the  Catholics  to  shield  her  without 
prematurely  declaring  their  intended  treason. 

The  argument  on  one  side  was  that  it  was  unjust  to 
make  the  Act  retrospective  ;  on  the  other,  "  that  where 
ambition  to  a  crown  had  once  entered,  such  Avas  its 
nature  that  it  could  never  be  satisfied."  Sir  Francis 
Knollys  informed  the  Commons,  that  the  words,  "  had 
already  laid  claim,"  were  carefully  considered  by  the 
Council  before  the  Bill  was  introduced,  "  and  were 
more  than  requisite,  yea,  more  than  convenient." 
1  13  Elizabeth,  cap.  1. 


1571.]  Tlie  Reign  of  Elizabeth.  199 

"  To  stay  or  prevent  devices  past  he  thought  it  but 
honest  poHcy."  Another  bold  speaker  said  that  "  to 
pretend  the  Queen  was  not  Queen  might  fairly  be 
called  treason,  but  to  make  it  treason  to  call  her  here- 
tic, infidel,  or  schismatic,  was  unreasonable.  Catholics 
necessarilv  considered  her  a  heretic,  unless  they  con- 
fessed  themselves  to  be  heretics,  or  unless  her  Majesty, 
as  some  people  thought,  was  at  heart  a  Catholic  her- 
self; there  were  those  who  said  the  Established  doc- 
trines were  her  councillors'  but  not  her  own  ;  and  if 
the  words  to  which  he  objected  were  allowed  to  stand, 
he  would  introduce  another,  and  vote  it  be  treason  to 
call  her  infidel.  Papist,  or  heretic." 

Elizabeth's  wishes  in  the  matter  appear  nowhere, 
except  as  they  may  be  supposed  to  have  been  repre- 
sented by  Knollys  ;  and  Knollys  himself  had  more 
than  once  lamented  that  Elizabeth  did  not  always  think 
with  her  Council.  She  liked  to  be  able  to  tell  for- 
eign Ambassadors  that  she  disapproved  of  Cecil,  that 
she  valued  and  loved  the  Catholics,  that  she  had  not 
interfered  and  would  not  interfere  with  the  prospec- 
tive claims  of  Mary  Stuart  on  the  crown.  In  the  end 
each  side  yielded  something.  The  Act  passed,  but  the 
contemplated  offences  were  made  to  date  from  thirty 
days  after  the  close  of  the  Parliament,  and  if  Ridolfi 
made  good  speed,  it  would  be  a  dead  letter,  or  would 
recoil  upon  Elizabeth.  Past  pretensions  and  past  acts 
were  to  be  forgotten,  and  a  power  was  reserved  only 
to  demand  of  any  known  pretender  whether  he  or  she 
would  for  the  future  admit  the  Queen  to  be  a  lawful 
sovereign.  Then,  but  only  then,  if  the  answer  was 
disloyal,  the  right,  whatever  it  might  be,  was  to  be 
held  forfeited. 

Other  clauses  provided  that  prosecutions   should  be 


200  History  of  England.  [Ch.  xxi. 

instituted  in  all  cases  within  six  months  of  the  alleged 
offences,  and  that  witnesses  should  be  brought  face  to 
face  with  the  accused. 

Two  further  measures  were  modified  in  the  same 
spirit.  The  introduction  or  publication  of  Papal  Bulls 
in  England  was  made  high  treason  also,  high  treason 
for  any  person  calling  himself  a  priest  to  receive  Eng- 
lish subjects  into  the  Church  of  Rome,  and  high  trea- 
son in  the  subject  to  be  received  ;  but  this  Act  was 
made  prospective  only  ;  and  three  months'  grace  was 
allowed  to  persons  who  had  Papal  Bulls  in  their  pos- 
session, or  had  been  converted,  to  make  confession  to 
their  diocesan  and  be  pardoned.^ 

Besides  the  exiles  who  had  been  in  rebellion,  many 
gentlemen  had  followed  or  anticipated  the  example  of 
Lord  Morley,  and  had  withdrawn  to  the  Continent. 
The  law  of  England  forbade  subjects  to  reside  abroad 
without  leave  from  the  Crown,  and  they  had  evaded  it 
by  conveying  their  lands  in  trust  to  relatives,  through 
whom  their  rents  were  sent  across  to  them.  Convey- 
ances of  this  kind  were  declared  to  be  void,  and  the 
Crown  was  empowered  to  take  possession  of  the  es- 
tates of  all  persons  who  after  sufficient  notice  refused 
to  return.  But  a  distinction  was  introduced  between 
those  w^ho  were  hatching  treason  and  those  who  w-ere 
influenced  by  "  blind  zeal ;  "  and  the  Peers  carried  a 
special  clause  in  favour  of  their  own  order.  A  Peer, 
at  any  time  that  he  pleased  to  make  his  submission, 
might  recover  his  property .^ 

An  Act  of  Attainder  was  carried  against  Westmore- 

land,  Northumberland,  and  their  companions.     Their 

estates  became  the  Crown's,  to  be  sold  or  disposed  of 

as  the  Queen  might  please  ;  and  the  dispute  with  the 

1  13_Eli2abeth,  cap.  2.  2  ibid.,  cap.  3. 


1571.]  The  Reign  of  Elizabeth.  201 

Bishop  of  Durham,  which  the  lawyers  had  left  after 
all  undetermined,  was  disposed  of  by  an  intimation 
that,  except  for  the  exertions  of  the  Crown,  the  Bishop 
would  have  been  swe])t  out  of  existence,  and  had 
therefore  no  claim  upon  the  forfeitures.^ 

It  had  been  discovered  after  the  suppression  of  the 
insurrection  that  multitudes  of  seditious  priests  were 
continually  going  up  and  down  the  country  in  disguise, 
or  hiding  in  country  houses  as  "  serving  men."  The 
Council  proposed  that  all  such  persons,  wherever  found, 
should  be  treated  as  vagrants  or  Egyptians,  that  such 
priests  should  be  pilloried,  set  in  the  stocks,  or  whipt 
at  the  cart's  tail ;  and  that  the  gentlemen  who  enter- 
tained them  should  be  deprived  of  their  property.^ 
This  practically  useful  measure  was  not  pressed,  and 
lay  over  for  another  session.  The  subsidy  was  the 
only  matter  of  importance  remaining,  and  it  was 
rapidly,  easily,  and  freely  disposed  of.  A  grant  of 
100,000/.  was  voted  without  a  word  of  opposition,  and 
on  the  29th  of  May  the  session  was  at  an  end. 

As  with  all  Elizabeth's  Parliaments,  it  was  brought 
to  a  close  ungraciously.  The  Queen  said  that  "  on 
the  whole  she  was  tolerably  satisfied.  Some  members 
of  the  Lower  House  had  shown  themselves  arrogant 
and  presumptuous,  especially  in  venturing  to  question 
her  own  prerogatives.  They  had  forgotten  their  duties 
in  wasting  time  by  superfluous  speech,  and  they  had 
meddled  with  matters  not  pertaining  to  them  nor 
within  the  capacity  of  their  understanding.  The  au- 
dacious folly  of  this  sort  deserved  and  received  her 
severest  censure."     The    majority,  however,  even  of 

1  13  Elizabeth,  cap.  10. 

2  Draft  of  an  Act  against  Disguises  of  Priests,  April   27,  1571 :  MSS. 
Domtslic. 


202  History  of  England.  [Ch.  xxi. 

the  Commons,  she  admitted,  had  conducted  themselves 
creditably  ;  and  as  to  the  Lords,  half  of  whose  names 
were  in  Ridolfi's  letter-bao-  "  her  Hio-hness  said  that 
she  took  their  diligence,  discretion,  and  orderly  pro- 
ceedings to  be  such  as  redounded  much  to  their  hon- 
our  and  commendation,  and  much  to  her  ow^n  comfort 
and  consolation."  ^ 

Her  actions  went  with  her  words.  She  consented 
to  all  the  measures  which  had  passed  both  Houses  ex- 
cept one  ;  but  the  Communion  Bill,  against  which  the 
Lords  had  struggled  so  hard,  and  which  was  identified 
by  Burghley  liimself  with  the  safety  of  the  Crown, 
she  permitted  to  drop. 

Possibly  Elizabeth  was  wise.  Many  a  wavering 
Catholic  may  have  been  won  back  to  his  allegiance 
who,  had  she  passed  the  bill,  would  have  gone  over  to 
disloyalty  ;  and  although  had  she  known  all  the  truth 
she  would  have  spared  the  Lords  the  compliments 
which  she  lavished  upon  them,  yet  there  was  true 
statesmanship  in  her  efforts  to  keep  the  peace  among 
her  subjects,  and  in  her  refusing  to  punish  the  Catho- 
lics for  the  act  of  the  Pope  until  they  had  made  it  their 
own  by  actual  treason.  It  was  not,  after  all,  by  meas- 
ures passed  in  Parliament  that  Elizabeth's  ci'own  was 
to  be  saved,  and  Cecil  was  working  more  effectually  by 
other  methods. 

It  is  time  to  return  to  Ridolfi  and  his  mission  to  the 
Pope  and  the  King  of  Spain. 

Elizabeth,  it  has  been  seen,  had  replied  to  the  com- 
missioners sent  by  Alva  to  treat  for  a  settlement,  that 
she  would  negotiate  directly  with  his  master.  Sir 
Henry  Cobham,  Lord  Cobham's  brotlier,  was  de- 
spatched to  Madrid  with  powers  to  come  to  terms  with 

1  Journals  of  the  Lords  and  Commons,  reign  of  Elizabeth:  D'Ewes. 


1571.]  TJie  Reign  of  Elizabeth.  203 

Philip ;  while  Ridolfi  went  ostensibly  to  Brussels,  on 
Walsingham's  recommendation,  to  make  arrangements 
for  the  reopening  of  trade. 

The  Duke  of  Alva  had  been  long  looking,  as  he 
said,  for  some  "  ford  "  by  which  to  enter  ef- 

April. 

fectively  into  the  English  difficulty.  He  had 
failed  to  find  one,  and  notwithstanding  the  stolen 
money,  the  wrongs,  insults,  violence,  indignities,  to 
which  Spain  had  been  exposed  since  the  quarrel,  he 
was  coming  round  to  quiet  methods.  The  threat  of 
the  Anjou  marriage,  if  it  did  not  alarm  him  as  much 
as  it  alarmed  the  Queen  of  Scots,  was  a  formidable 
possibility,  and  to  prevent  the  chance  of  it  was  worth 
the  sacrifice  of  his  pride. 

He  was  in  this  humour  when  Ridolfi  arrived  at 
Brussels  to  lay  before  him  the  message  of  the  Queen 
of  Scots  and  Norfolk.  His  plan  for  the  invasion  was 
as  simple  as  on  paper  it  seemed  most  promising. 
Eight  thousand  Spanish  troops  could  be  collected  at 
Middleburg.  They  could  be  silently  embarked  in  the 
transports  with  which  the  necessities  of  Alva's  army 
kept  the  harbour  crowded,  and  with  a  fair  wind  they 
would  be  across  the  Channel  in  a  night.  Six  thousand 
would  land  at  Harwich,  two  thousand  would  make 
North  to  Aberdeen.  The  Eastern  Counties  were 
ready  to  rise  ;  Norfolk  and  the  Spanish  Ambassador 
would  fly  from  London  raising  the  country  as  they 
went;  the  Catholic  noblemen  in  Scotland  and  the 
North  would  rise  at  the  same  moment ;  and  two 
armies,  each  swelling  like  an  avalanche, would  advance 
by  forced  marches  upon  London.  Lord  Dei-by,  ac- 
cording to  Ridolfi,  had  undertaken  to  bring  into  the 
field  the  whole  force  of  Lancashire  and  Cheshire. 
Shrewsbury  was  in  the  secret,  and  had  pledged  himself 


204  History  of  England.  [Ch.  xxi. 

to  protect  the  Queen  of  Scots  till  the  army  from  Scot- 
land came  to  her  rescue.^  Assailed  thus  on  all  sides, 
taken  by  sui'prise  and  without  time  to  raise  a  force  for 
her  defence,  Elizabeth  would  be  taken  in  a  net.  The 
Catholic  religion  would  be  restored  from  the  Orkneys 
to  the  Land's  End,  and  the  Queen  of  Scots,  as  sov- 
ereign of  the  whole  island,  would  dispose  as  she 
pleased  of  the  life  and  person  of  her  oppressor. 

In  such  rhetorical  fashion  Ridolfi  prearranged  the 
campaign.  Doubtless  there  wei-e  elements  of  hope  in 
what  he  said,  and  the  conquest  of  England  was  of  su- 
preme importance  for  the  security  of  the  Netherlands  ; 
but  the  silent  Duke  formed  no  favourable  opinion  of 
the  messenger,  whatever  attention  he  might  pay  to  the 
message  itself  He  knew  England  too  well  to  believe 
that  the  enterprise  would  be  so  easy.  He  had  learnt 
something  of  the  toughness  of  Protestantism  ;  he  had  a 
solid  respect  for  established  governments,  with  a  distrust 
equally  deep  of  noisy  explosive  insurrections.  Ridolfi 
too  could  not  hold  his  tongue.  He  was  so  vain  of  the 
part  which  he  was  playing  that  he  told  his  secrets  to 
Chapin  Vitelli  and  the  Spanish  generals.  He  struck 
Alva  as  too  great  a  fool  to  have  been  trusted  on  a  se- 
rious  errand  of  such  magnitude,  and  he  half  doubted 
whether  his  professed  character  might  not  be  his  real 
one,  and  whether  he  was  more  than  a   spy  of  Cecil's. 

The  letters  of  which  he  was  the  bearer,  however, 

1  "  El  otro  ejercito  que  viniese  de  Escocia  vendria  siguiendo  de  mano  en 
mano  para  juntarse  con  los  amigos  que  se  levantaran,  y  de  passada  llevar 
consigo  la  Reyna  de  Escocia,  la  persona  de  la  qual  se  puede  tener  por  cierta, 
porque  assi  la  promete  quien  la  tiene  en  guarda  [underlined  in  the  original], 
Uevantandose  un  ejercito  de  la  parte  de  Norfollc  y  por  opposite  de  la  parte 
hacia  el  Canal  de  Irlanda,  Uevantandose  todo  el  pays  del  Conde  de  Derby 
que  confina  con  la  Wallia  y  son  todos  Catolicos:  succede  desto  que  a  la 
Reyna  Isabel  se  le  cierra  el  paso  de  poder  ir  a  hacer  dano  a  la  dicha  Reyna 
de  Escocia."  —  MS.  endorsed  de  Roberto  Ridolfi,  April,  1571 :  Simancas. 


1571.]  The  Reign  of  Elizabeth.  205 

were  genuine  ;  the  Queen  of  Scots'  pretensions  were 
a  reality  ;  and  were  Elizabeth  out  of  the  way,  some- 
thing indisputably  might  be  made  of  them.  Were 
Elizabeth  out  of  the  way  —  this  on  reflection  seemed 
to  Alva  to  be  the  hinge  of  the  matter ;  but  the  step 
which  he  contemplated  was  not  to  be  risked  on  his  un- 
divided responsibility,  and  to  Philip,  therefore,  he  pro- 
ceeded to  state  at  length  his  private  opinion.  After 
sketching  genei'ally  Ridolfi's  proposals,  he  continued 
thus :  — 

"  I  replied  that  what  Ridolfi  suggested  was  full  of 
danger  ;  the  Earls  of  Westmoreland  and  Northumber- 
land had  tried  an  insurrection  and  had  failed,  and  the 
Duke  of  Norfolk,  who  was  to  have  joined  them,  was 
still  in  partial  confinement.  Ridolfi  assured  me  that 
Norfolk  could  leave  his  house  when  he  pleased,  and 
that  the  Catholics  Avould  not  fail  a  second  time  if  the 
Pope  and  one  or  other  of  the  gi'eat  Powers  would 
help  them.  He  showed  me  a  list  of  the  Confederates, 
and  he  mentioned  July  or  August  as  the  time  when 
the  eftterprise  would  be  most  easy.  I  asked  him  what 
they  would  do  if  the  Queen  married  the  Duke  of 
Anjou.  He  said  that  the  Queen  was  trifling  as  usual. 
She  would  never  marrv  unless  she  was  forced  into  it, 
and  if  it  became  at  all  likely,  the  Duke  and  the  other 
noblemen  would  interfere. ^ 

1  Yet  Norfolk  and  his  friends  at  this  very  time  were  assurinj^  La  Mothe 
F(?nelon  that  there  was  nothing  whicli  they  desired  more  than  this  mar- 
riage. 

"  Ledict  Due,"  La  Jfothe  wrote  on  the  2d  of  May,  "  parceque  je  luy 
avois  desja  faict  quehjue  communication  de  ce  propos,  avec  asseurancc  de 
la  volonte  de  Voz  Majestez  vers  luy  et  la  Royne  d'Escoce,  m'a  envoj'<^  dire 
qu'il  se  sentoit  tn'-s  oblig<5  ii  Voz  Majcstez  de  la  consideration  qu'il  vous 
playsoit  avoir  d'fmhx  deux  en  ceste  aftaire,  auquel  il  ni'avoit  desja  faict  de- 
claration de  son  creur  qu'il  so  deliheroit  avec  tout/,  ses  amvs  de  s'y  em- 
ployer droictement;  car  se  reputoit  tout  oultre  vostre  serviteuret  que  Mon- 
sieur vostre  filz  ne  doubtast  plus  qu'il  nc  filt  obey,  r6vdr^'  et  aj'm<5  en  ce 


206  History  of  England.  [Ch.  XXI. 

"  I  then  talked  over  the  matter  with  the  Council  of 
State.  To  Ridolfi  —  his  commission  not  being  ad- 
dressed immediately  to  me  —  I  said  merely  that  he 
might  assure  the  Duke  of  Norfolk  and  the  Queen  of 
Scots  of  your  Majesty's  good-will  to  both  of  them  ;  and 
if  the  Duke  was  really  a  Catholic,  and  the  Queen  of 
Scots  was  willing  to  marry  him,  your  Majesty  I  was  sure 
would  make  no  objection.  I  charged  him,  however, 
as  he  valued  their  lives  to  keep  better  guard  upon  his 
tongue,  and  I  have  written  to  Don  Juan  de  Cuniga,^ 
to  impress  on  his  Holiness  also  the  necessity  of  caution. 
Should  the  Queen  of  England  hear  of  what  is  going  on 
she  will  have  a  fair  excuse  to  execute  them  both.  I 
have  desired  Don  Juan  to  tell  his  Holiness  that  he  may 
rely  upon  your  Majesty,  but  that  he  must  submit  to 
your  Majesty's  decision  whatever  it  be,  and  that  he 
must  leave  the  execution  of  the  enterprise  to  those 
who  are  to  act  in  it. 

"  His  Holiness  sent  some  one  here  a  while  ago  to 
press  these  English  matters  upon  me.  I  said  then  that 
he  ought  not  to  believe  that  the  thing  was  as  easy  as 
the  English  Catholics  pretended.  The  difficulty  was 
not  so  much  in  the  enterprise  itself  as  in  the  impossi- 
bilitv  of  any  common  understandino;  about  it  between 

Royaulme;  et  a  escript  a  I'Evesque  de  Eoss  qu'il  me  voulut  ayder  de  toutz 
ses  moj'ens  et  intelligences  en  ceste  cause,  car  il  cognoissoit  qu'il  estoit 
besoing  d'avancer  icy  la  reputation  de  la  France  pour  bien  faire  les  affaires 
de  la  Royne  d'Escoce.  Milord  de  Lumley,  pour  gaiges  dela  volunt6  du 
Comte  d' Arundel  son  beau-p6re,  du  Comte  de  Worcester  et  de  luy  en  cest 
endroict,  m'a  envoj'^-  vnie  bague,  et  m'a  niand^  que  si  je  le  trouvois  bon, 
ilz  s'employeroient  debon  coeuret  yprocederoient  pareffectz."  — La  Mothe 
k  la  Ro3'ne,  Mai2:  Depeches,  Vol.  IV.  To  cover  language  of  this  kind, 
should  it  be  carried  round,  Ridolfi  told  Alva  that  the  Lords  were  playing 
with  France  till  Spain  was  ready,  lest  France  might  withdraw  its  subsidies 
from  their  fi  lends  in  Scotland.  It  did  not  answer.  They  lied  to  both  the 
Great  Powers,  that  if  one  failed  fhem  they  might  fall  back  upon  the  other: 
they  earned  only  in  the  end  the  distrust  and  contempt  of  both. 
1  The  Spanish  Ambassador  at  Rome . 


1571.]  Tlte  Reign  of  Elizabeth.  207 

your  Majesty  and  the  French.  If  his  Holiness  could 
have  prevailed  on  France  to  leave  all  to  us,  your  Maj- 
esty could  at  least  have  compelled  that  Queen  to  set 
the  Queen  of  Scots  at  liberty,  you  would  have  provided 
her  with  a  Catholic  husband,  and  have  opened  a  way 
for  the  restoration  of  relimon.  I  thouo-ht  then  that  his 
Holiness  might  do  something  in  this  way  if  he  would 
proceed  with  the  necessary  discretion,  but  I  have  told 
Don  Juan  to  say  that  now  it  had  better  be  left  alone. 
Nothing  which  the  Pope  can  do  at  present  will  pro- 
duce good  :  so  far  from  it,  if  a  hint  of  what  is  intended 
reach  the  French  Court,  all  will  be  ruined. 

"  But  to  come  to  details.  Certain  points  are  clear: 
the  unhappy  condition  of  the  Queen  of  Scots,  the  ill- 
usage  of  herself  and  her  friends,  the  obligation  which 
rests  on  your  Majesty  to  make  an  effort  for  the  resto- 
ration of  the  faith  in  those  islands,  and  the  injuries 
which  your  Majesty  and  your  subjects  have  sustained 
from  the  Queen  of  England  —  injuries  which  will  not 
be  redressed  as  long  as  she  continues  on  the  throne. 

"  All  tliese  things  may  be  set  right  through  the  of- 
fers which  are  now  made  to  us.  It  will  never  do, 
however,  simply  to  send  our  troops  as  these  people  pro- 
pose, on  the  chance  of  what  may  follow.  A  large  force 
will  be  required,  many  persons  will  have  to  be  admitted 
into  the  secret,  and  a  secret  which  is  widely  shared 
will  infallibly  be  betrayed.  The  Queen  will  have 
the  opportunity,  for  which  she  has  long  been  looking, 
of  putting  the  Queen  of  Scots  and  her  adherents  to 
death,  and  the  blow  will  recoil  upon  your  Majesty.  I 
do  not  trust  Ridolfi.  He  is  a  babbler.  He  has  talked 
over  the  plan  with  a  person  here  who  is  not  a  member 
of  the  Council.^     If  we  land  and    do  not  succeed  at 

1  A  side  note  says,  "  debe  decir  a  Chapin  Vitelli." 


208  History  of  England.  [Ch.  xxi. 

the  first  stroke,  you  may  be  sure  that  the  Queen  of 
Eiifjland  will  move  heaven  and  earth  to  defend  herself. 
She  will  throw  herself  wholly  upon  France.  She  will 
instantly  marry  the  Duke  of  Anjou,  though  at  present 
nothing  is  further  from  her  thoughts  ;  and  your  Maj- 
esty may  consider  how  you  w^ill  then  stand,  with  Eng- 
land, France,  and  Germany  your  enemies.  No  one 
should  advise  your  Majesty  to  run  such  a  risk  as  this. 

"  But  there  is  another  possibility.  Suppose  the 
Queen  of  England  dead  —  dead  by  the  hand  of  nature 
or  by  some  other  hand ;  or  suppose  the  Catholics  to 
have  got  possession  of  her  person  before  your  Majesty 
has  interfered  ;  the  case  is  then  altered.  There  would 
then  be  no  danger  from  Anjou  or  any  other  Prince  ; 
and  the  French  will  no  longer  suspect  your  Majesty  of 
intending  the  conquest  of  England.  Then  you  will  be 
able  to  say  to  the  Germans  that  you  go  there  only  to 
maintain  the  rights  of  the  Queen  of  Scots  against  her 
competitors.  The  Duke  of  Norfolk  says  he  can  him- 
self keep  the  field  for  forty  days :  long  before  that 
time  is  out  we  can  give  him  the  6000  men  that  he  asks 
for,  and  all  will  go  well. 

"  Your  Majesty  understands.  The  Queen  being 
dead  —  naturally  or  otherwise  —  dead  or  else  a  pris- 
oner, there  will  be  an  opportunity  which  we  should 
not  allow  to  escape.  The  first  step  must  not  be  taken 
by  us,  both  for  our  sake  and  for  theirs,  but  we  may  tell 
the  Duke  that  those  conditions  being  first  fulfilled,  he 
shall  have  what  he  wants.  The  enterprise  will  be  as 
honourable  to  your  Majesty  as  it  will  then  be  easy  to 
execute.  So  confident  am  I  of  this,  that  if  I  hear  that 
either  of  these  contingencies  has  taken  place,  I  shall 
act  at  once  without  waiting  for  further  instructions 
from  your  Majesty."  ^ 

1  Alva  to  Philip,  Anril  7,  1571 :  MS.  Simancas. 


1571.]  The  Reign  of  Elizaheih.  209 

Alva,  It  is  clear,  understood  the  business,  and,  if 
every  one  concerned  in  it  had  been  as  prudent  as  he, 
the  result  niio;]it  have  been  somethino;  considerable. 
He  dismissed  Ridolfi  with  such  cautions  as  he  described 
to  Philip,  to  pursue  his  journey  to  Rome,  and  he  him- 
self at  his  leisure  made  arrangements  to  move  on  the 
instant,  if  tlie  opportunity  for  which  he  waited  should 
present  itself.  Had  Norfolk  possessed  sufficient  spirit, 
the  Queen  might  perhaps  have  been  taken  at  the 
opening  of  the  Parliament ;  the  occasion  was  not  lost 
so  long  as  the  session  lasted,  and  Ridolfi  thought  it  de- 
sirable to  let  his  friends  know  before  he  left  the  Low 
Countries  what  the  Duke  had  said  to  him. 

There  happened  to  be  at  Brussels  at  this  time  a  cer- 
tain half  Scot  half  Fleming  named  Charles  Baily.  He 
was  one  of  those  many  young  men  who  were  carried 
away  by  enthusiasm  for  the  Queen  of  Scots,  and 
speaking  English  and  French  perfectly  well,  he  was 
employed  by  the  Bishop  of  Ross  to  conduct  the  com- 
munications between  the  refugees  and  their  friends  at 
home.  When  Ridolfi  took  leave  of  Alva,  Baily  was 
on  the  point  of  leaving  for  England  with  letters  from 
Sir  Francis  Englefield,  Lady  Northumberland,  and  the 
Earl  of  Westmoreland,  and  with  a  number  of  copies  of 
the  Bishop  of  Ross's  book  in  defence  of  Mary  Stuart's 
title,  which  the  Bishop  wished  to  distribute  while  Par- 
liament was  sitting.  A  safe  messenger  being  thus 
ready  to  his  hand,  Ridolfi  wrote  to  the  Bishop  of  Ross, 
and  with  singular  imprudence,  when  one  letter  would 
have  answered  his  purpose,  he  enclosed  others  contain- 
ing the  same  dangerous  secret  to  the  Duke  of  Norfolk 
and  Lord  Lumley.  Each  of  the  three  was  in  ci])her, 
but  either  by  accident  or  further  carelessness  he  sent 
the  key  with  them  on  a  separate  sheet,  and  the  only 

VOL.   X.  14 


210  History  of  England.  [Ch.  xxi. 

precaution  which  he  observed  was  to  cipher  the  ad- 
dresses of  the  two  noblemen,  in  figures  which  had 
been  arranged  with  the  Bishop  while  he  was  in  Eng- 
land.^ 

With  this  perilous  addition  to  his  burden  Charles 
Baily  sailed  for  Dover.  There  were  spies  everywhere 
and  on  every  one.  He  had  no  sooner  set  foot  on  shore 
than  a  hint  was  given  to  an  officer  to  search  his  bag- 
gage ;  the  letters  and  books  were  found,  and  he  and 
they  were  sent  under  guard  to  Lord  Cobham,  the  War- 
den of  the  Cinque  Ports,  who  was  in  London  for  the 
session. 

Cobham's  house  was  in  Blackfriars.  While  the 
prisoner  was  being  taken  thither,  intimation  was  sent 
to  the  Bishop  of  Ross  that  a  person  had  been  arrested 
with  some  mysterious  papers  enclosed  under  cover  to 
himself;  and  the  Bishop,  not  knowing  his  precise  dan- 
ger, but  feeling  only  the  possibility  of  a  tremendous 
discovery,  first  thought  of  throwing  himself  upon  La 
Mothe,  telling  him  as  much  as  he  dared,  and  asking 
him  to  claim  the  enclosures  as  his  own.  On  reflection 
it  seemed  better  to  trust  to  Cobham  himself,  whose 
name  was  in  Ridolfi's  list,  and  to  wait  to  see  what 
Cobham  would  do.^ 

It  was  the  evening  of  the  10th  of  April,  when  the 
Commons  were  in  full  discussion  of  their  Communion 
Bill.  Baily,  when  brought  before  the  Warden,  was 
again  searched.  The  alphabet  of  the  ciphers  was  found 
wadded  in  his  coat  at  the  hollow  of  his  back  ;  the 
books  were  manifestly  dangerous  ;  and  according  to  his 
own  story,  which  must  be  received  with  suspicion, 
Lord  Cobham  was  preparing  to  discharge  his  natural 

1  The  letters  to  Lumley  and  Norfolk  were  addressed  to  30  and  40. 

2  Confession  of  the  Bishop  of  Ross,  October,  November,  1571:  Murdin. 


1571.]  Tlie  Reign  of  Elizabeth.  211 

duty  and  lay  what  he  had  discovered  before  the  Coun- 
cil. His  brother  Thomas  Cobham,  however,  who  liad 
escaped  hanging  for  his  atrocities  in  the  Bay  of  Biscay 
and  had  taken  now  to  conspiracy  and  Catholicism,  hap- 
pened to  be  in  the  room  ;  the  prisoner  contrived  to  let 
him  know  by  signs  that  the  letters  were  of  conse- 
quence ;  and  young  Cobham,  taking  the  Warden 
apart,  "  threw  himself  in  tears  at  his  feet,"  and  told 
him  that  if  the  packet  was  taken  to  the  Council  the 
Duke  of  Norfolk  was  a  dead  man.  Lord  Cobham  said 
that  at  first  he  refused  to  listen.  He  put  the  letters  in 
his  pocket,  and  with  the  books  and  other  papers  in  a 
bag  he  crossed  the  river  to  Cecil's  house.  On  the 
way  his  heart  failed  him.  He  left  the  bag  Avith  Cecil ; 
he  said  nothing  of  the  letters,  but  carried  the  packet 
back  to  his  house,  and  "  being  again  importuned  by  his 
unhappy  brother,"  he  sealed  it  and  sent  it  to  the  Bishop 
of  Ross,  desiring  him  to  come  the  next  day  to  Black- 
friars  and  open  it  in  his  presence.^  As  it  had  been 
seen  by  the  searchers,  the  Warden  knew  that  he  would 
be  called  upon  to  account  for  it.  He  could  but  give 
the  Bishop  a  few  hours  to  do  the  best  that  he  could. 

The  Bishop,  with  the  packet  in  his  hands,  instantly 
possessed  himself  of  the  dangerous  letters,  and  then, 
creeping  across  in  the  darkness  to  Don  Guerau,  he 
composed,  with  the  Ambassador's  assistance,  another 
set  of  ciphered  papers  sufficiently  tinctured  with  dis- 
loyal matter  to  satisfy  Cecil's  suspicions,  while  all  that 
touched  the  real  secret  was  kept  out  of  sight.  A  copy 
of  the  Bull  of  excommunication  was  introduced,  an 
old  letter  from  Mary  Stuart  to  Don  Guerau,  another 
to  Mary  Stuart  herself  from  an  Italian  in  the  Ncther- 

1  Notes  of  Lord  Cobham's  confession,  in  Cecil's  hand,  taken  October  14: 
MSB.  Domestic,  liolls  House. 


212  History  of  England.  [Ch.  xxi. 

lands,  and  two  from  some  one  else  to  the  French  Am- 
bassador. The  malcontent  tone  which  characterised 
the  Queen  of  Scots'  secret  correspondence  was  care- 
fully preserved  ;  one  or  more  of  the  letters  were  writ- 
ten in  the  cipher  which  Charles  Baily  had  brought 
over,  and  the  Bishop  detained  the  key,  intending  to 
produce  it  with  affected  reluctance  Avhen  it  was  asked 
for.  Norfolk's  and  Lumley's  letters  were  then  con- 
veyed to  their  address,  and  the  Bishop,  in  the  belief 
that  he  had  done  the  work  effectually,  ventured  to 
write  himself  to  Bui'ghley  to  say  that  a  packet  of  let- 
ters had  been  brought  over  for  him  by  one  of  his  ser- 
vants, that  the  servant  had  been  arrested,  and  the  let- 
ters detained.  He  trusted  that  Burghley  would  assist  in 
recovering;  them  for  him.  He  did  not  know  what  the 
letters  might  contain,  "  but  if  they  came  to  his  hands,  no 
one  of  them  should  be  used  except  as  Burghley  should 
think  good."  ^ 

It  was  a  dexterous  performance  —  perhaps  too  dex- 
terous —  especially  the  last  stroke  of  it.  Cecil  was 
better  informed  of  what  was  passing  underground  than 
the  Bishop  supposed.  The  capture  of  Story  was  but 
one  instance  of  the  adroitness  of  his  agents  on  the 
Continent.  His  spies,  in  the  disguise  of  refugees,  were 
to  be  met  with  at  the  Earl  of  Westmoreland's  dinner- 
table,  and  in  the  closet  of  Lady  Northumberland. 
Men  who  had  been  out  in  the  rebellion  compounded 
for  their  pardon  by  betraying  their  friends,  and  Cecil 
had  already  heard  from  Flandei's  that  mischief  of  some 
kind  was  in  the  wind.^  The  Bishop's  books  unques- 
tionably were  meant  to  cause  a  stir  on  the  Succession 

1  The  Bishop  of  Ross  to  Lord  Burghley,  April  12 :  MSS.  Mary  Queen 
of  Scots. 

2  Letters  of  John  Lee  to  Cecil,  February,  March,  April,  1571 :  MSS. 
Flanders. 


1571.]  Tlie  Reign  of  Elizabeth.  210 

question,  besides  containing  "  many  manifest  lies." 
The  forged  packet  was  duly  sent  to  him,  and  no  sus- 
picion Avas  at  first  entertained  that  a  trick  had  been 
played ;  but  Charles  Baily  was  committed  by  Cecil's 
orders  to  the  Marshalsea,  and  means  were  taken  to 
probe  sometliing  deeper  into  his  secrets. 

Statesmen  who  have  to  grope  their  way  among  plots 
and  treasons  soil  their  hands  with  the  instruments 
which  they  are  compelled  to  use.  Among  the  persons 
who  had  been  arrested  and  sent  to  London  after  the 
rebellion  was  a  dissolute  cousin  of  Lady  Northumber- 
land, named  Thomas  Herle.  Poor,  cunning,  and  un- 
principled, and  connected  by  birth  Avith  the  high 
Catholic  families,  this  Herle  was  willino;  and  able  to  be 
useful.  He  was  confined  under  warrant  from  the 
Council  in  the  Marshalsea,  apparently  as  a  political 
prisoner,  his  occupation  in  any  other  capacity  being- 
known  only  to  Cecil  and  himself.  He  was  treated  at 
times  with  exceptional  severity  —  examined  often  be- 
fore the  Council,  heavily  manacled,  and  sometimes,  to 
sustain  his  character  with  greater  completeness,  he 
was  threatened  by  Cecil  with  the  rack  —  and  all  the 
time  he  was  employed  in  winding  himself  into  the  con- 
fidence of  his  fellow-prisoners,  as  a  common  sufi^'erer  in 
the  same  cause  with  them.  He  was  an  object  of  inter- 
est to  the  Bishop  of  Ross,  who  had  been  melted  to 
tears  by  the  report  of  the  weight  of  his  irons.  He  had 
been  in  communication  with  the  Bishop.  He  had  been 
in  communication  with  Don  Guerau.  His  last  credit- 
able duty  had  been  to  find  a  person  who  could  bo 
trusted  to  go  to  Flanders  and  kidnap  or  kill  the  Earl 
of  Westmoreland.^     A  hint  from  Cecil  set  him  at  once 

1  No  other  meaning  can  be  forced  upon  his  words.  "  Touching  Kamsden," 
Herle  wrote  to  Cecil,  "  no  doubt  he  is  an  apt  niau  to  do  some  great  feat 


214  History  of  England.  [Ch.  xxi. 

upon  the  new  arrival.  The  prisoners  had  access  to 
each  other  clurino:  the  dav,  and  sometimes  at  night. 
Charles  Baily,  friendless,  desolate,  terrified,  warmed 
at  the  friendly  voice  of  a  companion  in  misfortune  and 
an  acquaintance  of  the  Bishop  of  Ross  ;  and  Herle  was 
able  to  tell  Cecil,  in  a  few  hours,  that  "  he  had  in  his 
hands  the  most  secret  minister  in  all  the  ill  practices  in 
Flanders."  There  was  a  mystery  about  the  letters 
which  he  had  not  yet  fathomed,  but  he  said  that  he 
would  soon  learn  all  that  was  in  him.  "  Baily  was 
fearful,  full  of  words  glorious,  and  given  to  the  cup,  a 
man  easily  read."  ^ 

The  Bishop  of  Ross,  meanwhile,  knowing  that  he 
must  expect  to  be  questioned,  had  arranged  the  story 
which  he  intended  to  tell.  He  meant  to  say  that  his 
mistress,  against  his  own  advice,  had  been  applying 
to  France  and  Spain  for  assistance  to  put  down  what 
she  called  the  Rebellion  in  Scotland.  He  would  gain 
credit  by  the  seeming  importance  of  the  confession, 
while,  though  Elizabeth  might  be  angry,  she  could  not 
justly  complain.  Scotland  was  not  hers,  nor  had  she 
yet  recognised  any  other  authority  there  but  the 
Queen's.  But  it  was  essential  that  he  and  Baily 
should  tell  the  same  story  ;  and  as  suspicion  might  be 
provoked  if  he  moved  in  the  matter  himself,  Don 
Guerau  sent  a  servant  to  the  Marshalsea  to  ask  per- 
mission to  see. the  prisoner  under  pretence  of  enquiring 
after  the  missing  letters.  The  servant  went,  but  did 
not  return.     Foreseeino-  something  of  the  kind,  Cecil 

against  the  Earl  of  Westmoreland  or  any  other,  if  he  be  cherished,  which 
may  not  only  discourage  a  rebel  when  he  is  nowhere  safe  from  his  Prince, 
but  express  a  wonderfUl  vigilancy  in  every  action  that  her  Majesty  and 
your  Lordship  doth  intend."  — Herle  to  Burghley,  April  11:  MSS.  Mary 
Queen  of  Scots. 
1  Ibid. 


1571.]  TJie  Reign  of  Elizabeth.  215 

had  given  orders  that  any  person  coming  to  enquire 
for  Charles  Baily  should  be  detained.  An  Irish  priest 
whom  the  Bishop  next  employed  was  equally  unsuc- 
cessful, and,  as  Cecil  hoped,  recourse  was  then  had  to 
Herle.  By  steady  attention,  hy  lamentations  over  the 
growth  of  heresy,  by  expressions  of  indignation  at  the 
hanging  of  the  Archbishop  of  St.  Andrew's,  the  wretch 
had  won  Baily's  confidence,  and  as  he  had  confeder- 
ates outside  the  prison  who  were  permitted  to  see  him, 
he  became  the  channel  of  intercourse  between  the 
Bishop  and  the  prisoner. 

The  letters  each  way  passed  through  Cecil's  hands. 
They  were  in  cipher,  but  were  carefully  copied,  and 
were  then  passed  on  to  their  address.  Could  they  be 
read  they  would  tell  all  which  he  desired  to  know  ; 
but  he  could  not  trust  them  out  of  his  hands,  and  the 
characters  balHed  his  skill.  He  consulted  Herle,  and 
Herle  suggested  that  if  he  could  be  allowed  to  leave 
the  prison,  Baily  might  trust  him  with  a  veibal  mes- 
sage ;  he  would  "  then  enter  into  more  familiarity  with 
the  Bishop,"  and  might  learn  mnch.^  Before  this 
could  be  done,  however,  the  keeper  of  the  Marshalsea 
would  have  to  be  admitted  into  confidence,  and  that 
could  not  be  thought  of.  The  best  hope  was  that 
Baily  might  be  brought  to  use  Herle  as  his  secretary, 
and  trust  him  with  the  ciphers,  or  that  Herle  might 
otherwise  catch  him  with  some  skilful  question.  The 
doors  of  the  sleeping  cells  in  the  prison  were  left  occa- 
sionally unlocked.  One  night,  in  the  small  hours,  the 
spy  stole  out  of  his  bed  and  crept  to  Baily's  side.  He 
woke  him,  and  whispered  that  he  had  a  letter  for  him 
from  the  Bisliop  of  Ross,  which  he  had  concealed  and 
could  not  find  till  daylight  ;  but  the  Bishop,  he  said, 
1  Herle  to  Cecil,  April  22 :  Cutlon  MSS.,  Calij.  3. 


216  History  of  England.  [Ch.  xxi. 

wanted,  meanwhile,  to  know  wlietlier  the  Council  had 
examined  him  about  the  books  which  he  had  brought 
over,  or  if  they  had  questioned  him  about  his  dealings 
with  the  refugees.  The  two  points  were  ill  selected, 
for  Baily,  in  the  ciphered  letters,  had  given  the  Bishop 
full  information  on  both  of  them.  Herle  heard  his 
teeth  chatter  in  the  dark,  and  felt  the  bed  tremble. 
"What!"  he  said,  "had  not  my  Lord  his  letters, 
then,  wherein  I  answered  Yes  ?  "  He  felt  that  he 
was  betraved,  and  not  a  word  more  could  be  extracted 
out  of  him,  only  cold  answers,  and  assertions  that  he 
knew  nothing  of  refugees.^  The  next  morning,  the 
forlorn  creature  attempted  to  warn  the  Bishop  that 
Herle  was  false.^  This  note  also  was  intercepted,  and 
being  not  in  cipher,  showed  Burghley  that  if  he  wanted 
more  information  he  must  try  other  means.  Baily 
was  removed  from  the  Marshalsea  to  the  Tower,  where 
he  was  confined  "  in  a  cave  "  "  rheumatic  and  unsa- 
voury," foul  with  the  uncleansed  memorials  of  genera- 
tions of  wretches  who  had  preceded  him  there,  "  with- 
out a  bed,"  and  "  with  only  a  little  straw  on  the  moist 
earth-floor  to  lie  upon ; "  the  wardens  answering  to 
his  complaints  that  "  they  provided  prisoners  only  with 
place  and  room  ;  "  "  beds  and  other  necessities  "  they 
must  obtain  from  their  friends.^ 

But  this  was  not  the  worst.  Burghley  meant  to  make 
him  speak,  and  to  use  whatever  means  might  be  neces- 
sary to  break  his  spirit.  He  sent  for  him,  laid  his 
ciphered  letters  to  the  Bishop  of  Ross  before  him,  and 
required  him  to  read  them.  He  said  he  could  not,  and 
pretended   that  he    had  lost  the  alphabet.     Burghley 

1  Herle  to  Burghley,  April  24. 

2  Charles  Baily  to  the  Bishop  of  Boss,  April  25  (evening).    Misdated  by 
Murdin,  April  22. 

3  Same  to  the  same,  April  26:  MSS.  Queen  of  Scots. 


1571.]  Tlie  Reign  of  EUzaheth.  217 

sternly  told  liim  that  he  was  Ipng,  and  that  if  he 
would  not  confess  he  should  be  tortured.^  It  was  no 
idle  threat.  From  his  cave,  to  which  he  was  re- 
manded, he  once  more  sent  a  few  words  to  the  Bishop 
of  Ross.  He  implored  the  Bishop  to  save  him  from 
La  Gehenne,  or  he  was  "  lost  forever."  The  Bishop 
rushed  to  the  Council,  claimed  Baily  as  his  servant, 
and  insisted  on  his  privilege  as  Ambassador.  Finding 
no  comfort  there,  he  let  fall,  when  he  returned  to  his 
house,  a  passionate  expression  "  that  those  who  lived 
a  month  would  see  strange  changes."  To  keep  up 
Baily 's  spirits  he  sent  him  a  note  to  entreat  him  to  be 
firm,  to  bid  him  "  comfort  himself  in  God,  and  remem- 
ber the  noble  heroes  who  had  suffered  death  rather 
than  betray  their  masters."  ^  The  treacherous  mes- 
senger carried  the  paper,  and  the  report  of  the  Bish- 
op's words,  to  Cecil,  and  the  following  brief  order  was 
sent  to  Sir  William  Hopton,  Lieutenant  of  the 
Tower :  — 

"  You  and  Edmund  Tremayne  ^  are  to  examine 
Charles  Baily  concerning  certain  letters  written  by 
him  in  cipher  from  the  Marshalsea  to  the  Bisliop  of 
Ross.  You  will  ask  him  for  the  alphabet  of  the  ci- 
pher, and  if  he  shall  refuse  to  shew  the  said  alphabet, 
or  to  declare  truly  the  contents  of  the  said  letters  in 
cipher,  you  shall  put  him  upon  the  rack ;  and  by  dis- 
cretion with  putting  him  in  fear,  and  as  cause  shall  be 
given  afterwards,  you  shall  procure  him  to  confess  the 
truth  with  some  pain  of  the  said  torture."  * 

1  Baily  to  the  Bishop  of  Ros8,  April  29 :  Murdin. 

2  Bisliop  of  ]!o.ss  to  Charles  Daily,  May  1:  Ibid. 

3  Youii^ier  brother  of  the  twr)  Treinaynes  who  were  killed  at  Ha^Te,  a 
man  of  special  ability,  miicli  trusted  by  Cecil,  whose  name  will  be  heard  of 
hereafter  in  connexion  with  frisli  matters. 

*  Burghley  to  the  Lieutenant  of  the  Tower:  Hatfield  MSS. 


218  Hktory  of  England.  [Ch.  xxl 

A  few  hours  later  Baily  was  seen  staggering  back 

to  his  dungeon,  "  scarce  able  to  go,"  "  discol- 

*^'  oured  and  pale    as    ashes."  ^     He    had   told 

nothing,  so  far;  but  the    experiment  was  to  be  tried 

acain  more  severely,  and  he  was  left  in  the  darkness  to 

reflect  on  what  was  before  him. 

One    more    ingenious   refinement   was    yet  behind. 
Doctor  Story  was  still  in  the  Tower  waiting  for  execu- 
tion.    It  had  been  ascertained  that  Baily  was  unac- 
quainted with  Story's  person,  though  he  regarded  him, 
like  the  Catholics  generally,  as  a  confessor  and  a  saint. 
There  appeared  one  night  by  the  side  of  the    straw 
heap  on  which  Baily  lay  extended,  the  figure  of  a  man 
who  said  that  he  was  Story  himself,  admitted  into  the 
cell  by  the  kindness  of  a  gaoler,  to  console  him  in  his 
sufferings.     The    deceit    could   be    successfully    main- 
tained, for  the  counterfeit  was  Parker,  the  treacherous 
friend  who  had  betrayed  Story  in  Flanders.     In  the 
character    of  a   ghostly    father,    and    an    experienced 
conspirator,  Parker  recommended  Baily  to  dig  below 
Burghley's  mines.     He  persuaded  him  that  so  much 
was  already  discovered  that  it  was  useless  to  persist  in 
complete  denial.     By  deciphering  his  own  letters  he 
told  him  that  he  would   gain    credit  with    Burghley, 
while  he  would  leave  him  no  wiser  than  he  was  al- 
ready.    He  might  offer  to  be  a  spy  upon  the  Bishop 
of  Ross,  while  in   fact  he  would    be  a  spy  upon  the 
Government,  and  would  serve  the  cause  of  the  Queen 
of  Scots  more  effectually  than  ever.^ 

1  Herle  to  Burghley,  May  1:  Co«OM  J/SS.,  Ca%.  3.  .  .  The  Spanish 
Ambassador  said  that,  though  racked,  he  had  been  more  frightened  than 
seriously  hurt. 

"  Con  haber  tornado  a  aquel  criado  del  Obispo  de  Boss  y  ver  las  cartas 
con  cifra,  le  ban  dado  tormento  aunque  no  muy  rezio  y  esta  en  la  Torre." 
Don  Guerau  to  Philip,  May  9 :  MS.  Slmcmcas. 

2  Baily  in  writing  afterwards  to  Don  Guerau  to  say  what  he  had  con- 


1571.]  Tlie  Reign  of  Elizabeth.  219 

Too  happy  to  escape  a  repetition  of  La  Gehenne 
under  so  high  a  sanction,  the  victim  of  this  singular 
network  of  deceit  fell  at  last  into  the  pit  which  was 
laid  before  him.  He  gave  up  the  keys  of  the  cipher, 
■which  revealed  at  once  the  story  of  the  abstracted 
packet,  with  the  existence  of  other  letters  addressed  to 
unknown  persons  which  had  missed  his  hands  ;  and 
Burghley  must  have  smiled  as  he  read  the  passionate 
promises  of  Baily  before  his  experience  of  the  rack, 
that  "  the  Council  should  get  nothino;  from  him  thouo-li 
he  was  torn  in  pieces."  He  confessed  now  to  all  that 
he  knew.  He  could  not  tell  who  the  persons  were  for 
whom  he  had  brought  over  the  letters  because  they 
were  under  cover  to  the  Bishop  of  Ross  ;  but  he  gave 
a  sketch  of  the  conversation  which  had  passed  between 
Ridolfi  and  Alva,  so  far  as  Ridolfi  had  communicated 
it  to  himself ;  he  described  the  intended  landing  of  the 
Spaniards  in  the  Eastern  Counties,  and  with  many 
entreaties  to  Burghley  that  he  would  keep  his  secret 
and  save  his  honour,  he  undertook,  if  he  was  allowed 
to  return  into  the  Bishop  of  Ross's  service,  to  watch 
his  correspondence  and  keep  copies  of  all  letters 
written  by  or  to  him.^ 

Yet  he  was  still  but  half  false,  and  Parker  had  pre- 
pared Burghley  to  understand  the  meaning  of  this 
base  offer.     Baily  was  left  in  the  Tower,  to  find  him- 

fessed,  adds  innocently,  "He  hecho  todo  lo  que  he  dicho  por  consejo  y  ex- 
hortacion  del  Doctor  Story  que  ha  visto  como  he  sido  tratado,  y  estaba 
avisado  de  la  nianera  que  deterniinan  de  tratarme."  —  Charles  Baily  to  Don 
Guerau,  May  10:  MS.  Simancas. 

Four  months  after  we  find  him  answering  at  another  examination  "  that 
his  memory  was  so  troubled  with  his  long  imprisonment  and  the  trouble 
which  he  had  with  Parker  feigning  himself  Doctor  Story,  and  other  such 
matters  as  he  told  him,  that  he  was  not  able  to  write  ten  words  together. 
MSS.  HatftM,  September  19. 

1  Charles  Baily  to  Burghley,  May  2:  Murdin. 


220  History  of  England.  [Ch.  xxi. 

self,  to  his  surprise,  in  no  better  favour  with  Cecil,  and 
reproached  as  a  coward  by  his  old  friends.  He  could 
but  excuse  himself  to  Don  Guerau,  by  saying  that 
Cecil  knew  already  more  about  Ridolfi  than  he  had 
himself  admitted  ;  and  that  except  for  what  Doctor 
Story  had  told  him,  he  would  have  suffered  death 
rather  than  have  confessed  a  single  thino-.i 

The  Bishop  of  Ross,  meanwhile,  sick  with  fears  that 
Baily  would  confess  under  the  rack,  had  taken  to  his 
bed.  He  ate  nothing  for  three  days,  and  lay  barri- 
caded in  his  house,  having  given  orders  to  his  porter  to 
admit  no  one  to  him.  He  could  tell  secrets  Avhich 
Baily  could  not,  and  the  question  now  with  Cecil  was 
how  to  extract  them  from  him.  Herle's  services  were 
again  therefore  put  in  requisition.  The  warning 
against  him  which  had  been  sent  by  Baily  having  been 
intercepted,  the  Bishop,  though  he  had  vague  misgiv- 
ings about  him,  had  no  reason  to  suspect  him  of  treach- 
ery, and  with  judicious  treatment  his  full  confidence 
might  perhaps  be  recovered.  After  a  short  correspond- 
ence, in  which  the  stages  of  the  farce  were  pre-ar- 
ranged, Herle  was  sent  for  to  the  Council,  examined, 
and  being  found  contumacious,  was  loaded  with  irons 
and  threatened  with  torture.  In  this  seeming  extrem- 
ity he  wrote  to  the  Bishop  to  implore  his  prayers,  and 
his  advice.  He  desired,  as  he  told  Burghley,  "  to  be- 
get some  kind  of  second  trust  in  the  Bishop,"  and  he 
swore  that  no  extremity  should  force  him  to  reveal 
anything.  Appealed  to  thus  earnestly,  the  Bishop 
sent  a  friend  to  the  Marshalsea,  who  found  Herle 
"  plunged  into  the  depths  of  wretchedness,  and  lament- 
ing that  he  was  regarded  with  mistrust."  He  com- 
plained of  Baily,  "  uttering  his  speech,"  as  he  tri- 
1  Charles  Baily  to  Don  Guerau,  May  10 :  MS.  Simancas. 


1571.]  The  Reign  of  Elkabeth.  221 

nmpliantly  described  it,  "  in  sucli  piteous  forms,  his  irons 
jingling  up  and  down  by  meet  occasions  as  the  fellow 
wept  and  sobbed."  ^  Following  up  the  favourable  im- 
pression, he  wrote  again  to  the  Bishop,  that  "  he  was 
between  the  anvil  and  the  hammer  ; "  but  whatever 
was  thought  of  him,  "  his  right  hand  should  play  Mu- 
cius's  part  before  he  would  break  his  faith  ;  "  "  they 
should  rather  rend  his  poor  carcase  than  he  would  be- 
tray the  least  tittle  of  what  had  passed  ;  "  "  He  spoke 
it  wdth  sorrow  of  mind,  and  he  would  seal  it  with  his 
blood,"  "  esteeming  no  torment  greater  than  unjust 
jealousy  conceived  of  a  true  friend."  With  mild  re- 
proaches for  the  discouraging  of  his  honest  service,  he 
said  that  he  looked  for  consolation  at  his  Lordship's 
hand,  protesting,  "  that  for  any  that  would  maintain 
he  Avas  dealing  otherwise  than  honestly,  he  would 
make  them  liars  in  their  throats."  ^ 

The  Bishop  was  taken  in  to  the  extent  of  again  be- 
lieving Herle  to  be  honest ;  but  the  rascality  was 
thrown  away  so  far  as  practical  results  arose  from  it. 
Bailv  had  told  all  which  Cecil  desired  to  hear,  except 
the  names  of  the  English  noblemen  designated  by 
the  ciphers,  and  these  the  Bishop  saw  no  reason  for 
trusting  to  Herle's  cui'iosity.  Other  and  more  hon- 
ourable measures,  therefore,  had  now  to  be  substituted. 
On  the  13th  of  May,  Sir  Ralph  Sadler,  Lord  Sussex, 
and  Sir  Walter  Mildmay  repaired  to  the  Bishop's 
house.  He  was  obliged  to  admit  them,  and  he  was 
then  questioned  on  his  servant's  confession.  He  was 
required  to  tell  what  he  knew  about  Ridolfi's  mis- 
sion. His  previous  story  served  him  in  good  stead. 
Ridolfi,  he  said,  had  canned  a  petition  from  his  mistress 

1  HerU"  to  IJurghlcy,  April  2'J:  ^fHB.  Queen  of  Scots. 

2  Hcrle  to  the  Bishop  of  Ross,  April  29:  MSS.  Mary  Queen  of  Scots. 


222  History  of  England.  LCn.  xxi. 

to  the  Duke  of  Alva,  the  Pope,  and  the  King  of  Spahi 
for  assistance  against  the  rebels  in  Scotland.  He  was 
asked  to  explain  the  ciphers  30  and  40.^  He  first  de- 
nied any  recollection  of  them.  Then  he  said  that  30 
was  the  Spanish  Ambassador,  and  40  was  his  own  mis- 
tress. The  examiners  enquired  what  had  become  of 
the  letters  which  had  been  addressed  in  these  figures. 
He  said  that  he  had  burnt  them.  They  asked  why, 
and  he  could  give  no  explanation.^  They  knew  that 
he  was  not  telling  the  truth,  but  the  rack  could  not 
safely  be  applied  to  an  ambassador,  especially  on  mere 
suspicion,  nor  could  Cecil  venture  prudently  to  com- 
mit him  to  the  Tower.  His  papers  were  sealed  up, 
his  servants  separated  from  him,  and  he  himself  placed 
under  the  charge  of  the  Bishop  of  Ely,  to  whose  house 
in  Holborn  he  was  soon  after  removed.  That  he  had 
given  a  false  account  of  the  figures  was  easily  ascer- 
tained. Don  Guerau  was  asked  whether  he  had  ever 
been  designated  by  the  cipher  30.  Ignorant  of  what 
the  Bishop  of  Ross  had  said,  he  answered  that  he  had 
not.  The  Queen  of  Scots  was  examined  at  great  length 
whether  slie  had  sent  any  message  by  Ridolfi,  whether 
she  had  heard  from  Ridolfi,  and  whether  she  was  the 
cipher  40.  She  too,  knowing  as  little  as  Don  Guerau, 
declared  boldly  that  she  had  sent  no  message  by  Ri- 
dolfi, that  she  had  never  heard  from  Ridolfi,  and  had 
no  cipher  of  any  kind  in  which  she  corresponded  with 
Ridolfi.  Finding,  however,  by  the  questions  which 
were  put  to  her  that  something  had  been  discovered, 
she  was  ready-witted  enough  to  say  that  the  Bishop  of 
Ross  might  have  arranged  a  cipher  in  her  name  which 
she  did  not  know  ;  and  when  Shrewsbury  asked  her 

1  The  addresses  on  Ridolfi's  letters  to  Norfolk  and  Lumley. 

2  Examination  of  the  Bishop  of  Ross,  May  13 :  Murdin. 


1571.]  Tlie  Reign  of  Elizabeth.  223 

further  whether  she  had  written  to  the  Pope  or  to  the 
King  of  Spain,  she  rephed  boldly,  that  finding  herself 
without  hope  of  support  in  England,  she  had  written 
to  all  foreign  princes  for  aid  against  her  rebels.^ 

But  Burghley  knew  from  the  confession  of  Baily 
that  more  was  meant  than  aid  in  Scotland.  The  con- 
tradictions in  the  several  stories  taught  him  to  distrust 
them  all,  and  he  found  other  means,  as  will  be  seen, 
more  successful  to  find  the  bottom  of  the  conspiracy. 
The  Bishop  of  Ross  was  left  in  imprisonment.  Mary 
Stuart  was  placed  under  stricter  guard  ;  her  servants 
were  locked  out  of  her  apartments  at  night,  and  only 
allowed  to  return  to  her  after  daybreak.  The  real 
Story,  the  farce  having  been  played  out  in  the  Tower, 
was  hanged.  Don  Guerau  claimed  him  as  a  subject 
of  Philip.  Elizabeth  answered  that  the  King  of  Spain 
might  have  his  body  if  he  wished  for  it,  but  his  head 
should  remain  in  Eno;Iand.2 

The  investi oration  had  been  simultaneous  with  the 
sitting  of  Parliament,  and  they  came  to  an  end  to- 
gether. The  discovery  that  she  was  surrounded  with 
treason  now  rendered  it  imperative  upon  Elizabeth  to 
come  to  a  distinct  resolution  upon  her  proposed  mar- 
riage with  the  Duke  of  Anjou.  The  more  it  was 
pressed  upon  her,  the  more  she  hated  the  thought  of 
it.  The  mocking  world  outside  believed  that  she  was 
only  trifling ;  yet  among  her  many  changes,  her  own 
ministers  were  unable  to  discover  her  real  wishes. 

Here  too,  as  in  so  many  other  matters,  the  historian 
finds  himself  staggering  among  quicksands  of  false- 
hood, l^urgliley  and  Walsiiigliam  alone  are  to  be  de- 
pended upon  as  saying  what  they  meant.     Some  points, 

1  Shrewsbury  to  Burghley,  May  18:  MSS.  Queen  of  Scots. 

2  La  Mothe,  June  t) :  Lepeches,  Vol.  IV. 


224  History  of  England.  [Ch.  xxi. 

however,  can  be  made  out  with  an  approach  to  cer- 
tainty. 

Both  the  principals  first  of  all  detested  the  marriage 
in  itself,  although  the  force  of  the  pohtical  reasons  in 
its  favour  was  felt  by  each  of  them.  Elizabeth  her- 
self believed  that  when  the  Duke  found  himself  the 
husband  of  "  an  ugly  old  woman,"  he  would  give  her 
ung  hrevage.  de  France^  which  would  leave  him  a  happy 
widower  in  six  or  seven  months.  He  would  then 
marry  the  Queen  of  Scots  and  be  King  over  the  whole 
island.  1 

Anjou,  on  the  other  hand,  in  his  confidential  mo- 
ments repeated  his  suspicions  of  Elizabeth's  character, 
and  when  there  seemed  to  be  a  hope  that  the  objec- 
tions would  be  found  insuperable,  did  not  conceal  his 
delight.2 

The  position  so  far  was  not  a  hopeful  one,  but  the 
interests  at  stake  were  so  tremendous,  and  the  pressure 
exerted  upon  both  Queen  and  Prince  was  so  heavy, 
that  Anjou  was  ready  to  yield,  and  Elizabeth  at  times 
persuaded  others  if  not  herself  that  she  might  yield 
also.  In  France  the  fortunes  of  the  Huguenots  were 
supposed  to  depend  upon  the  marriage.  It  was  no 
hopeful  sign  for  them  that  their  prospects  could  turn 
upon  so  poor  a  contingency,  but  so  they  judged  them- 
selves of  their  own  situation.  The  marriage  was  to  be 
the  keystone  of  a  policy.  If  the  support  of  England 
could  be  secured  to  France  in  a  war  with  Spain,  the 
jealousies  of  Catholics  and  Protestants  would  be  super- 

1  La  Mothe,  May  2:  Di'peches,  Vol.  IV. 

2  Speaking  to  a  lady  one  day  about  the  marriage,  he  said,  "  La  Reyna 
mi  madre  muestra  tener  pena  de  que  esta  desbaratado  mi  casaniiento,  y  yo 
estoy  el  mas  contento  hombre  del  mundo  de  haber  escapade  de  casar  con 
una  puta  piiblica."  —  Don  Francis  de  Alava  to  Philip,  May  11 :  Teulet, 
VoL  V. 


1571.]  TJie  Reign  of  Elizabeth.  225 

seded  by  a  revival  of  the  old  temper  of  Francis  and 
Henry.  Catherine  de  Medici  hated  the  Protestants, 
but  she  hated  Spain  more.  With  Elizabeth  for  an  ally 
she  could  revenge  St.  Quentin  and  extend  the  French 
frontier  to  the  Rhine. 

On  the  side  of  England  the  advance  of  the  Reforma- 
tion  had  been  connected  at  every  stage  of  its  progress 
with  an  approach  to  France.  The  divorce  of  Catherine 
of  Arragon  broke  up  the  ancient  European  combina- 
tions. Henry  VIII.  became  the  friend  of  Francis. 
Edward  was  to  have  married  a  French  princess  :  a 
French  kino;  had  befriended  the  English  Reformers 
during  the  Marian  persecution,  and  in  the  face  of  the 
late  discoveries,  Ehzabeth's  condition  appeared  so 
"  desperate  "  to  Walsingham  and  Burghley,  that  they 
were  ready  for  their  own  part  to  agree  to  any  terms 
"  rather  than  the  matter  should  quail."  Walsingham 
especially  "  challenged  to  himself  no  great  judgment, 
but  he  said  that  if  it  proceeded  not,  he  saw  at  hand 
the  ruin  of  England  ; "  ^  and  he  told  Catherine  that 
the  Duke  "would  be  welcome  there  as  a  Temporal 
Messias  to  save  them  from  the  mischief  of  the  civil 
sword."  ^  Some  hundreds  of  letters  about  it  were  ex- 
changed during  the  spring  between  the  French  and 
English  ambassadors  and  their  Courts  and  Sovereigns. 
The  perusal  of  them  leaves  an  impression  that  every- 
thing turned  upon  Elizabeth  herself.  Could  the  French 
Court  have  been  satisfied  that  when  the  conditions  on 
both  sides  had  been  drawn  out  and  agreed  to,  Eliza- 
beth would  have  then  honestly  completed  the  marriage, 
she  could  have  asked  nothing  to  which  they  would  not 
have  consented  :    without  that  preliminary  certainty, 

1  Walsingham  to  Burghley,  May  15:  MSS.  France. 

2  Same  to  the  same,  June  21:  Mhi.  Ibid. 

VOL.    X.  15 


226  History  of  England.  [Ch.  xxi. 

they  were  unwilling  to  compromise  themselves  with 
concessions  which  might  prove  to  have  been  made  in 
vain. 

Ehzabeth's  "  sincerity  "  —  that  was  the  point.  She 
had  admitted  the  general  arguments  in  favour  of  the 
marriage,  but,  exactly  as  she  had  done  with  the  Arch- 
duke Charles,  she  had  suddenly  told  Walsingham  that 
Anjou  could  not  be  allowed  to  hear  mass  in  England  ; 
and  although  ^neither  Anjou  nor  his  mother  would 
have  allowed  such  an  objection  to  have  stood  in  their 
way,  could  they  have  assured  themselves  that  if  they 
yielded  the  Queen  would  be  satisfied,  they  feared  that 
it  was  merely  an  excuse,  and  that  a  fresh  difficulty 
would  be  immediately  raised.  It  was  admitted  on  all 
sides  that  if  he  married  Elizabeth  Anjou's  Catholicism 
would  be  of  no  long  continuance.  Charles  IX.  gave 
Walsingham  to  understand  "  that  he  was  no  enemy 
to  the  Protestant  religion,  as  if  the  marriage  proceeded 
would  well  appear."  Anjou  was  ruled  by  his  mother, 
and  "  what  her  religion  is,"  Walsino-ham  wrote  to 
Burghley,  "  your  Lordship  can  partly  guess."  M.  de 
Foix,  who  was  employed  by  Catherine  to  discuss  mat- 
ters with  the  English  Ambassador,  "  swore  to  him 
usino;  God  for  witness,"  "  that  in  his  conscience  he 
thought  Monsieur  within  a  twelvemonth  would  be  as 
forward  to  advance  religion  as  any  in  England."  Mon- 
sieur himself  said,  "  that  if  England  meant  to  proceed 
there  was  no  fear  that  religion  would  prove  a  cause  of 
breach  ;  "  and  Walsingham  concluded,  "  that  if  the 
match  went  forward  it  would  set  the  triple  crown  quite 
aside."  ^ 

Yet  that  Anjou  should  formally  bind  himself  never 

1  Walsingham  to  Burghley,  April  22 :  Digges.    Same  to  the  same,  June 
21:  MSS.  France. 


1571.]  The  Reign  of  Mizaheth.  227 

while  in  England  to  attend  mass  or  confess  to  a  priest, 
was  a  demand  to  which  a  French  Prince  could  not  be 
expected  to  consent,  while  there  was  a  doubt  whether 
the  uncertain  object  of  his  ambition  would  not  flit  be- 
fore his  grasp  after  all.  He  would  affront  the  Catholic 
world  in  his  own  country  and  beyond  it  by  consenting, 
and  he  would  gain  nothing  in  return  ;  "  neither  hon- 
our, credit,  nor  safety  itself"  could  allow  him  to  show 
Europe  that  he  held  so  lightly  by  his  creed. 

Thus  on  this  point  of  religion  sovereigns,  ambassa- 
dors, ministers,  continued  through  the  spring  and  sum- 
mer to  argue  up  and  down.  The  French  asked 
whether  the  Queen  of  England  "  wished  Monsieur  to 
be  an  atheist  tliat  he  should  abandon  his  faith  at  a 
word  for  mere  worldly  advancement."  Elizabeth  in 
her  usual  formulas  replied  that  in  England  faith  and 
conscience  were  free  ;  Monsieur  might  believe  what 
he  pleased  ;  but  the  peace  of  the  realm  could  not  be 
disturbed  by  a  license  to  use  a  service  forbidden  by 
the  law. 

"  Her  son,"  Catherine  answered,  "  would  soon  be 
overcome  by  the  Queen's  persuasions ;  "  the  incon- 
venience at  worst  would  be  brief,  for  the  Catholics 
everywhere  felt  "  that  the  match  would  breed  a 
change  of  religion  throughout  Europe." 

Elizabeth  rejoined  that  if  the  case  was  reversed,  if 
she  were  going  to  France  to  marrv  Monsieur,  and  if 
the  exercise  of  her  religion  would  create  trouble  there, 
she  would  raise  no  difficulty  on  any  such  ground. ^ 
She  liinted  that  if  Monsieur  would  yield  in  form  she 
might  relieve  his  conscience  by  a  private  permission. 

1  "  Que  si  elle  aroit  a  aller  en  I'estat  de  mondict  Seigneur  et  que  I'ex- 
ercice  de  s-a  religion  y  deust  apporter  du  trouble,  qu'cUe  s'en  passcroit." 
La  Motlie,  May  10 :  Lepeches,  Vol.  IV. 


228  History  of  England.  [Ch.  xxi. 

La  Mothe  reminded  Catherine  that  many  of  the  Eng- 
hsh  nobles  had  mass  in  their  houses,  the  Queen  shut- 
ting her  eyes  to  it.  The  Ambassador  could  accommo- 
date Monsieur  at  his  chapel,  or  if  the  worst  came  to 
the  worst  he  could  cross  the  Channel  now  and  then  to 
Boulogne  :  Philip  when  he  wished  to  be  devout  with- 
drew from  Madrid  to  Segovia,  and  Boulogne  was  at 
least  as  easy  of  access  from  London  ;  nay,  as  Monsieur 
would  not  be  called  on  to  declare  himself  a  Protestant, 
the  Pope  might  be  brought  to  give  a  dispensation  to 
secure  a  titular  Catholic  husband  for  the  heretical 
Queen.^ 

To  the  English  ministers,  on  the  other  hand,  the 
Duke's  request  was  so  modest  that  it  did  not  seem 
worth  disputing;  he  asked  only,  like  the  Archduke,  to 
have  a  priest  now  and  then  privately  in  his  closet ;  the 
people  should  neither  see  him  nor  hear  of  him,  and 
in  public  he  would  appear  in  church  with  the  Queen. 
Cecil's  Protestantism  was  above  suspicion,  and  Cecil 
saw  no  reason  to  refuse  so  slight  a  favour. 

It  was  but  too  obvious  that  the  nominal  obstacle  was 
not  the  real  one.     The  French  Government 

June. 

suggested  that  the  religious  question  should 
stand  over  for  a  time,  and  that  the  other  conditions  of 
the  marriage  should  be  arranged  first.  Cecil,  anxious 
to  do  anything  that  would  help  things  forward,  entered 
upon  them  with  the  Queen.  He  met  at  first  with  the 
coldest  discouragement.  She  clung  convulsively  to 
her  objection  ;  and  when  she  was  driven  from  it  at  last, 
with  a  desperate  clutch  at  the  next  plank  which  was 
floating  near  her,  she  said  that  the  first  article  should 
be  "  the  restoration  of  Calais." 

La  Mothe  exclaimed  that  it  was  plain  now  that  she 

1  La  Mothe,  July  11 :  Depeches,  Vol.  IV. 


1571.]  TJie  Reign  of  Elizabeth.  229 

was  trifling,  and  he  gave  no  obscure  intimation  that 
France  might  be  more  dangerous  to  play  tricks  with 
than  Sweden  or  Austria.  The  Emperor  was  far  oft', 
while  a  nia-Jit's  sail  would  bring  the  French  into  Eng- 
land.  To  speak  of  Calais,  as  Cecil  said,  could  mean 
only  that  she  intended  "  to  procure  a  break,"  and  a 
break  of  the  most  dangerous  Idnd. 

The  Council  unanimously  entreated  her  "  to  forbear 
that  toy  of  Calais,"  and  generally  again   urged  upon 
her  "  the  prosecution  of  the  marriage  as  a  matter  of 
all  others    most   necessary."  ^      She    listened,  and  as 
Burghley  said,  "  seemed  to  intend  it  earnestly  ;  "  she 
told  La  Mothe  that  she  was  most  anxious  to  bring  the 
matters  to  a  happy  termination  ;  but  as  fast  as  one  ob- 
stacle was  removed  she    raised  another,  and    the  sit- 
uation was  the  more  embarrassing    because    she    had 
herself  begun   the   negotiation.     The   French   might 
naturally  conclude  that  she  had  been  amusing  them 
with  proposals  which  she    had   predetermined    should 
end  in  nothing,   merely  to  extricate  herself  from  im- 
mediate embarrassments.     Probably  this  was  not  the 
truth :  with  the  present,  as  with  all  her  marriage  proj- 
ects, she   perhaps  ho})ed  and  expected  at  first  that  she 
might  be  able  to   overcome  her  repugnance,  and  only 
found  her  resolution  fail  her  when  the  moment  came 
to  decide.     Even  yet  she  could  not  face  her  own  con- 
clusion.    She  wrote    to  Catherine    and    she  wrote  to 
Anjou,  not  committing   herself   to  anything   positive, 
but  repeating  the  general  declarations  which  she  had 
made  to  La  Mothe  ;  ^  but  Burghley,  who  knew  her 
thoroughly,  saw  where  all  was  tending,  and  naturally 

1  Burghley  to  Walsingham,  June  7 :  Digges. 

2  Elizabeth  to  Catherine  de  Medici,  June  6;  Elizabeth  to  the  Duke  of 
Anjou,  July  9:  Miiti.  France,  Hulls  Hume. 


230  History  of  England.  [Ch.  xxi. 

dreaded  the  resentment  which  further    trifling  might 
provoke. 

"  Her  Majesty,"  he  wrote  to  Walsingham,  "  is  not 
unwarned  how  dangerous  it  were,  if  in  her 

July. 

default  the  matter  taketh  not  success,  and 
she  seemeth  to  conceive  thereof,  and  pretendeth  that 
if  the  point  of  religion  may  be  granted,  there  will  be 
no  other  difficulty.  But  whether  she  is  persuaded 
that  therein  the  breach  will  be  on  that  side,  and  so  she 
to  escape  the  reproof,  I  cannot  tell.  God  direct  the 
matter,  for  I  have  done  my  uttermost,  and  so  hath 
other  councillors.  My  Lord  Keeper  hath  earnestly 
dealt  in  it,  and  so  have  others.  This  amity  was  need- 
ful to  us,  but  God  hath  determined  to  plague  us.  The 
hour  is  at  hand.     His  will  be  done  with  mercy."  ^ 

Even  Leicester  had  outwardly  united  with  Burgh- 
ley  in  recommending  Elizabeth  to  yield ;  ^  and  as 
Burghley  had  ascertained  that  Leicester  had  been  the 
person  who  had  at  first  urged  her  to  stand  out  so  per- 
emptorily about  religion,  he  had  been  at  a  loss  to  un- 
derstand his  conduct.^  In  public  Leicester  had  ap- 
peared to  go  with  the  Council  so  heartily,  and  he  had 
spoken  so  warmly  in  private  to  La  Mothe,  that  it  was 
hard  to  doubt  his  sincerity.  "  Unless,"  wrote  La 
Mothe,  "  he  is  altogether  sans  foy^  he  is  with  us." 
Sans  foy^  unfortunately,  might  have  been  the  motto 
on  Leicester's  shield.  While  "  the  poor  Huguenots  " 
were  telling  Walsingham  in  tears  that  an  affront  from 
England  would  bring  back  the  Guises,  and  end  in  a 

1  Burghley  to  "Walsingham,  July  9:  Digges. 

2  Ibid. 

3  "  It  was  strange  that  any  one  man  should  give  comfort  to  the  Ambas- 
sador in  the  cause,  and  yet  the  same  man  to  persuade  the  Queen's  Majesty 
that  she  shoidd  persist.  Both  these  things  are  done,  but  I  dare  not  affirm 
by  any  one."  —  Burghley  to  Walsingham,  May  11:  Digges.  The  allusion 
is  evidently  to  Leicester. 


1571.]  Tlie  Reign  of  Elizabeth.  231 

massacre  of  tliemselves,  Leicester  was  working  pri- 
vately upon  the  Queen,  who  was  but  too  wilhng  to 
Hsten  to  him,  feeding  her  through  the  ladies  of  the 
bedchamber  with  stories  that  Anjou  was  infected  with 
a  loathsome  disease,  and  assisting  his  Penelope  to  un- 
ravel at  night  the  web  which  she  had  woven  under 
Cecil's  direction  in  the  day.^ 

Anjou  was  growing  impatient.  "  Religion  would 
not  have  been  the  let."  So  anxious  was  Catherine  for 
the  marriage,  that  she  was  on  the  point  of  openly  giv- 
ing Avay  about  it ;  but  the  Duke  began  to  see  that  "  he 
was  one  of  the  forsaken  ;  "  and  "  to  yield  in  religion, 
and  after  to  miss  of  their  purpose,  they  thought  would 
be  a  touch  in  honour."  ^  The  best  that  Walsingham 
could  now  hope  to  do  was  to  secure  his  mistress  an 
honourable  retreat,  and  Anjou's  own  pride  came  op- 
portunely to  his  assistance. 

If  the  thing  was  not  to  be,  religion  was  a  fair  excuse 
on  both  sides ;  and  Anjou,  in  fear  of  ridicule,  deter- 
mined to  save  his  credit  with  the  Catholics  by  himself 
making  the  difference  of  creed  an  insurmountable  ob- 
jection. He  began  to  talk  largely  of  his  conscience. 
He  protested  that  he  would  not  marry  a  heretic  of 
questionable  character.  The  clergy  and  the  Cardinal 
of  Lorraine  encouraged  his  humour,  and  the  English 
Ambassador  now  watched  it  growing  with  secret  satis- 
faction.  The  Queen  Mother  and  Charles  still  hoped 
that  Elizabeth  could  not  break  off.  The  King  swore 
he  would    make    those    who    had    dared    to    interfere 

1  "  El  Conde  de  Leicester  hace  demostracion  exteriormente  de  desear  el 
casamiento  de  la  Reyna  de  Inglaterra,  mas  por  tercera  mano  liacc  lo  con- 
trario,  habiendo  hecho  k  entender  a  la  Keyna  por  su  hennana  y  otras' 
mugeres  ruie  M.  de  Anjou  estaba  llagado  de  lepra."  —  MS.  endorsed,  Por 
cartnB  de  Londres  de  Arjosto  2.3.     Simnncns. 

2  Walsingham  to  Leicester,  July  27 :  Digges. 


232  History  of  England.  [Cn.  xxi. 

"  shorter  by  the  head  ;  "  ^  Catherine  used  all  her  arts 
with  Anjou,  and  "never  sobbed  so  much  since  the 
death  of  her  husband  ;  "  and  "  Monsieur  himself  retired 
to  his  cabinet  and  bestowed  half  a  day  in  shedding 
tears."  But  "neither  the  King's  threatening  nor  the 
Queen  Mother's  persuading  could  draw  him  to  proceed 
further."  Mass  or  no  mass,  toleration  or  no  toleration, 
he  refused  definitely  to  think  any  more  of  the  marriage.^ 
Nothing  could  have  happened  more  conveniently. 
Except  for  this  fit  of  temper  the  rejection  would  have 
come  from  England,  and  Walsingham  congratulated 
himself  that  "  at  least  her  Majesty's  honour  could  be 
saved,  and  she  could  be  thought  to  have  proceeded 
with  sincerity."  Elizabeth  made  a  new  danger  for 
herself.  As  Anjou  drew  back,  her  scruples  became 
less,  and  the  pecuharity  of  her  character  enabled  her 
to  persuade  even  herself  that  she  had  been  and  still 
continued  to  be  willing  to  accept  him.  Had  it  been 
so  indeed,  Anjou  could  doubtless  have  been  whistled 
back  to  the  lure.  But  further  vacillation  would  have 
been  deliberate  suicide.  Cecil  was  too  happy  that  she 
was  creditably  extricated  from  a  dangerous  position, 
and  however  anxious  he  still  admitted  himself  to  be 
for  the  marriage,  he  showed  her  that  it  was  absolutely 
necessary  for  her  to  make  up  her  mind. 

"Should  she   marry  with  France,"    he  said  in  an 
elaborate   paper  which   he   laid   before   her, 

August.  1  .  .         . 

"  many  thmgs  evil  digested  and  dangerous 
would,  by  God's  providence,  prove  easy  to  be  ordered 
—  the  perilous  causes  of  the  Scottish  Queen  and  Scot- 
land, the  discontent  of  a  great  number  of  her  subjects 

1  Walsingham  to  Cecil,  July  30:  MSS.  France. 

2  Same  to  the  same,  July  27 :  MS.  Ibid. 


1571.J  Tlie  Reign  of  Elizabeth.  233 

upon  sundry  causes,  the  differences  with    Spain,  the 
dangerous  and  unreasonable    changes    growing  up  in 
Ireland,  and,  generally,  the  uncertainty  which  obliged 
her  to  stand  continually  on  her  guard  by  sea  and  land. 
Her  Majesty  believed  that  a  league  with  France  would 
answer  these  purposes  as  well  as  her  marriage.     The 
league,  no  doubt,  would  be  better  than  nothing ;  but 
it  would  last  only  as  long  as  France  was  interested  in 
maintaining  it.     The  danger  to  her  from  the  pretended 
title  of  the  Queen  of  Scots  would  continue,  and  prob- 
ably   increase.       The    dissatisfaction    of    her   subjects 
would  increase  also,  and  with  it  the  Queen  of  Scots' 
faction.     The  uncertainty  of  the  succession  would  di- 
vide England  into  parties,  and  the    people,  all  alike, 
would  become  against  nature  careless  of  her  Majesty's 
felicity.     If  however  these  considerations  did  not  sat- 
isfy her  that  the  marriage  was  absolutely  necessary,  if 
she  was  not  positively  and  finally  determined    to    go 
through  with  it,  she  had  better  leave  it  as  it  stood  ;  she 
had  better  persist  in  her  answer  that    she  could  not 
allow  the  Duke  to  have  private  mass,  how  secret  so- 
ever ;  so  it  would  appear  that  the  only  cause  of  the 
interruption  of  the  marriage  was  the    scruple  of  her 
conscience,    which,  being    offended,  she    could    never 
live  in  quietness.     In  that  case  she  must  look  about 
her  for  some  other  means  to  preserve  her  state,  surety, 
and  life  ;  and  how  her  Majesty  would  obtain  a  remedy 
for  her  perils,  he  thought  was  only  in  the  knowledge 
of  Almi^htv  God.     If,  on  the  other  hand,  for  the  ur- 
gent,  necessary,  and    honourable    causes   many  times 
plainly,  earnestly,  and  at  length  delivered  to  her  Maj- 
esty, she    could  bring   herself  to   take    the    Duke  of 
Anjou  for  her  husband,  then,  no  doubt,  without  offend- 
ing her  best  subjects,  as  she  had  affected  to  fear  she 


234  History  of  England.  [Ch.  xxi. 

might  do,  or  witliout  seemino;  to  consent  that  there 
should  be  two  kinds  of  religion  in  England,  means 
could  be  found  to  settle  all  conditions  to  the  satisfac- 
tion of  both  countries.'"  ^ 

The  game  had  been  played  to  the  latest  moment  and 
was  now  dropped  :  Elizabeth  talked,  protested,  played 
with  the  idea,  and  affected  to  be  anxious  that  the  mar- 
riao-e  should  be  brouo-ht  about ;  but  she  held  fast,  as 
Cecil  advised,  to  her  plea  of  conscience.  Monsieur 
was  deliohted  to  show  his  zeal  for  the  faith  in  which 
he  had  been  bred  ;  and  the  French  Court  was  left  in 
the  belief  that  the  ultimate  breach  had  been  more  on 
their  side  than  on  Elizabeth's.  Walsinsuham  and  Cecil 
agreed  "  to  hide  the  imperfections  of  both  parties,  not 
knowino;  what  thereafter  mio-ht  follow  :  "  ^  and  to  Wal- 
singham's  extreme  relief  and  partial  amusement,  the 
French  King  said,  "  that  for  her  upright  dealing  he 
would  honour  the  Queen  of  England  during  his  life." 

It  can  now  be  understood  why  she  refused  her  con- 
sent to  the  Communion  Bill.  That  measure  was  part 
of  an  organised  Protestant  policy,  of  which  the  Anjou 
marriage  formed  an  essential  element ;  and  feeling  that 
her  own  part  in  the  drama  was  not  likely  to  be  per- 
formed effectively,  she  preferred  to  trust  still  to  her 
old  policy  of  humouring  and  conciliating  the  Catholics. 
In  one  sense  she  may  well  be  pardoned  for  having  de- 
clined to  accept  as  her  husband  the  miserable  Henry 
de  Valois,  especially  as  to  England  no  harm  came  from 
her  refusal.  Yet  Elizabeth  may  not  be  credited  with 
a  deeper  insight  than  Burghley's,  and  the  moral  worth- 
lessness  of  the  Duke  of  Anjou  could  not  have  formed 

1  Cecil  to  Elizabeth,  August  31 :  MSB.  France. 

2  Walsingham  to  Cecil,  September  26:  MS.  Ibid. 


1571.]  Tlie  Reign  of  Elizabeth.  235 

the  real  objection  to  him  in  tlie  mind  of  a  woman  who 
had  been  devoted  so  long  and  so  deeply  to  such  a 
wretch  as  Leicester.  Had  Anjou  been  a  second  St. 
Louis,  she  would  have  acted  in  the  same  way ;  and 
possibly,  also,  Walsingham  and  Burghley  were  right 
in  believing  that,  had  the  marriage  taken  place,  the 
course  of  European  history  would  have  been  different, 
and  the  power  of  the  Papacy  have  been  rolled  back  in 
one  broad  wave  across  the  Alps  and  Pyrenees. 

The  Queen  having  finally  discovered  that  she  was 
unequal  to  the  sacrifice  which  was  required  of  her,  the 
next  step  was  to  secure  the  political  alliance  of  France : 
and  here,  for  a  time,  the  success  seemed  considerable. 
The  Queen  Mother  flattered  herself  with  the  hope  that 
although  Anjou  had  proved  untractable,  Elizabeth 
might  yet  in  time  accept  her  third  son,  the  Due 
d'Alencon.  The  anti-Spanish  party  remained  in  the 
ascendant  at  Court.  Count  Louis,  at  the  beginning  of 
August,  brought  a  petition  from  the  Netherlands  for 
help  against  Alva,  and  was  graciously  received.  He 
had  tried  Elizabeth  first,  but  Elizabeth,  fearing  then 
that  she  had  brought  a  quarrel  with  France  upon  her- 
self, was  intending  to  make  up  again  to  Spain  —  as  if, 
as  Walsingham  said,  "  Spain  would  forget  the  injuries 
which  it  had  received  from  her."  Count  Louis  had 
asked  for  50,000  crowns,  which  Walsingham  consid- 
ered "  would  save  the  disbursing  of  300,000  ;  but  they 
could  not  be  obtained  "  —  "  God,"  as  he  said,  "  at 
times  blinding  the  hearts  of  Princes,  not  suffering  them 
to  see  the  perils  that  hung  over  them."  ^ 

At  Paris,  however,  Count  Louis  found  a  Govern- 
ment more  ready  to  listen  to  him.  It  was  not  now  a 
question  of  money ;  he  had  come  to  lay  the  Low 
1  Walsingham  to  Cecil,  June  30 :  MS8.  France. 


236  History  of  England.  [Ch.  xxi. 

Countries  at  the  feet  of  the  French  King,  to  ask  him  to 
assist  in  expelling  the  Spaniards,  and  to  prevail  on 
Elizabeth's  unwillingness  to  induce  her  also  to  assist. 
In  return,  the  Provinces  might  be  divided  —  Flanders 
and  Haynau  could  be  reunited  to  France  ;  Brabant, 
Gelderland,  and  Luxemburg  to  Germany,  while  Eng- 
land might  have  Holland  and  the  islands  at  the  mouth 
of  the  Scheldt. 

Could  the  marriage  have  been  arranged,  an  aggres- 
sive league  with  this  object  would  have  unquestionably 
followed  between  England,  France,  and  the  German 
Protestant  States ;  and  a  European  revolution  would 
have  been  the  inevitable  consequence.  Without  the 
marriage,  it  was  doubtful  whether  either  of  the  con- 
tracting Powers  would  have  sufficient  confidence  in 
the  other  to  risk  a  breach  with  Spain.  It  had  been 
the  traditionary  policy  of  Enghsh  statesmen  to  embroil 
France  with  Spain,  and  to  make  their  own  market  out 
of  the  discord  of  their  rivals.  Catherine  de  Medici 
naturally  feared  that  Elizabeth  would  "  leave  her  in 
the  briars,"  or  perhaps  purchase  back  Spanish  friend- 
ship by  turning  against  her,  unless  Elizabeth  had  given 
securities  for  her  good  faith. 

Nevertheless,  it  appeared  on  the  surface  as  if 
Catherine  and  Charles  were  willing  to  venture  the 
experiment.  The  King  desired  Walsingham  to  ac- 
quaint his  mistress  with  Count  Louis's  proposal.  "  If 
she,  being  Lady  of  the  Narrow  Seas,"  would  go  along 
with  him,  Charles  offered  to  take  his  share  of  the  en- 
terprise, and  to  make  a  league  with  England  for  the 
liberation  of  the  Netherlands.  "  It  would  be  as  much 
honour  to  Elizabeth,"  he  said,  "  to  unite  Zealand  to  the 
English  Crown,  as  the  loss  of  Calais  had  been  shame 
to   her   sister."  ^     There  was   no   reason   to   suppose 

1  Walsingham  to  Cecil,  August  12:  MS&.  Digges. 


1571.]  TJie  Reign  of  Elizabeth.  237 

Charles  insincere.  The  Admiral  was  invited  to  the 
court.  The  ships  of  the  Prince  of  Orange  were  enter- 
tained at  Rochelle.  When  the  Spaniards  complained, 
the  King  replied  that  the  Prince  of  Orange  was  a 
Prince  of  the  Em.pire,  and  could  not  be  denied  the  use 
of  the  ports  of  France  ;  Count  Louis  was  neither  sub- 
ject nor  pensioner  of  Spain,  and  the  Catholic  King 
should  not  think  he  could  give  laws  to  other  countries 
than  his  own."  ^  "  The  Queen  Mother,"  said  Wal- 
singhara,  "is  incensed  against  Spain,  being  persuaded 
that  her  daughter  was  poisoned." 

The  Ambassador,  however,  was  obliged  to  admit 
that  his  own  expectations  were  not  shared  by  every 
one.2  France  feared  that  England  would  go  over  to 
Spain.  It  was  equally  possible  that  the  Catholics 
might  recover  their  ascendancy  at  the  Louvre,  and 
England  might  be  left  to  fight  out,  single-handed,  a 
quarrel  which  it  had  entered  at  the  side  of  France. 
To  Cecil  as  well  as  to  Catherine  the  failure  of  the  mar- 
riage seemed  fatal  to  an  aggressive  policy.  Zealand 
and  Holland  might  become  English  provinces,  but  they 
would  probably  be  purchased  by  the  loss  of  Ireland ; 
it  was  folly  to  risk  a  kingdom  in  possession  in  seeking 
other  countries  by  conquest ;  ^  and  the  loss  of  Ireland 
might  prove,  "in  the  end,  the  loss  of  all  else,"  for 
Spain  would  then  acquire  the  command  of  the  sea. 
"  When  England  and  Spain  were  enemies,  France 
might  be  accorded  with  Spain  by  practice  of  the  Pope, 

1  Walsingham  to  Cecil,  August  12 :  MSS.  Digges. 

2  "  Some,"  he  wrote,  "  do  judge  these  things  only  to  be  colours  and  to 
tend  to  some  dangerous  issue:  but  they  that  think  so  have  nothing  but 
jealousy  for  ground.  The  Admiral  himself  believing  that  good  may  come 
of  his  access  means  to  proceed,  laying  all  fear  aside,  and  to  commit  himself 
to  God's  protection."  — Same  to  the  same,  August  12:  MSS.  France. 

8  Objections  to  the  league  with  France,  August  22. —  Cecil's  hand: 
MS.  Ibid. 


238  History  of  England.  [Ch.  xxi. 

and  on  small  quarrel  fall  off  from  England."  ^  The 
English  share  of  the  war  would  be  chiefly  naval,  "  and 
the  loss  of  men  and  ships  by  tempest,  shot,  and  fire 
would  be  most  costly."  ^ 

So  thought  Cecil,  having  lost  heart  from  his  mis- 
tress's inconstancy.  If  the  French  would  be  content 
with  a  defensive  alliance,  in  which  the  German  Princes 
were  comprehended,  each  Power  to  assist  the  rest  in 
case  of  invasion,  that  ■would  be  most  welcome  —  but  he 
feared  that  their  disappointment  would  not  incline  them 
to  so  mild  a  policy.  They  would  make  a  league  if 
Eno-land  would  go  alono-  with  them  in  a  war  of  con- 
quest.  Otherwise,  it  was  too  likely  that  they  would 
change  their  front  and  fall  back  on  Spain. ^ 

Walsingham,  in  Paris,  where  he  was  in  daily  inter- 
course with  the  Huguenot  leaders,  viewed  the  situation 
more  hopefully.  He  thought  that  whatever  Elizabeth 
might  do  or  forbear  to  do,  war  between  England  and 
Spain  was  inevitable ;  and  being  so,  it  would  be  better, 
on  all  accounts,  to  give  it  at  once  the  complexion  of  a 
war  of  liberation.  Wlien  the  fighting  was  once  begun, 
he  assured  himself  that  the  pride  of  France  would  be 
roused,  and  the  Huguenots  would  be  strong  enough 
to  prevent  the  desertion  which  Cecil  anticipated. 
"  Another  dangerous  sore,"  he  said,  "  would  be  reme- 
died also ;  "  for  France,  in  return  for  the  alliance, 
would  abandon  once  for  all  the  cause  of  the  Queen  of 
Scots.  Members  of  the  French  Council,  in  conversa- 
tion with  him  on  the  subject,  had  confessed  "  that 
Mary  Stuart  had  made  herself  unworthy  of  govern- 
ment ; "  that  Elizabeth  "  had    shown    rare   favour  to 

1  Objections  to  the  league  with   France,  August  22.  —  Cecil's  hand; 
MSS.  France. 

2  Ibid.  8  Ibid. 


1571.]  The  Reign  of  Elizabeth.  239 

her  ;  "  "  that  their  King  for  the  future  wouhl  forbear 
to  recommend  her ;  "  and  that  in  fact,  "  his  former 
recommendation  of  her  cause  proceeded  rather  for 
manners'  sake  to  content  others  than  of  affection  of 
his  own,  being  by  him  thonght  guihy  of  so  horrible 
crimes."-^  If,  on  the  other  hand,  "  tlie  league  went 
not  forward,"  the  reconciliation  of  Spain  and  France 
"W'Ould  come  about  another  way;"  the  toleration 
edicts  would  not  be  observed ;  "  religion  would  be 
clean  overthrown  ;  "  "  the  House  of  Guise  would  bear 
the  sway,  who  would  be  as  forward  in  preferring  the 
conquest  of  Ireland,  and  the  advancement  of  their 
niece  to  the  Crown  of  England,  as  the  other  side  was 
bent  to  prefer  the  conquest  of  Flanders."  ^ 

The  arguments  were  evenly  balanced  ;  but  in  Cecil's 
mind  the  prospect  every  way  Avas  ahnost  desperate  — 
desperate,  not  through  its  inlierent  difficulty,  but  from 
the  combination  of  obstinacy  and  vacillation  in  the 
Queen,  who  was  at  once  determined  to  go  her  own 
way  and  unable  to  decide  which  way  she  wished  to  go. 
He  had  exhausted  his  powers  of  persuasion  and  remon- 
strance. He  could  now  but  stand  by,  as  he  said,  and 
wait  for  the  visitation  of  the  Almighty. 

It  is  remarkable  that  Avhile  the  public  policy  of  the 
English  Government  was  so  uncertain,  while  Elizabeth 
believed  it  possible  to  recover  Philip's  friendship,  and 
Cecil  believed  that  if  Enjiland  abstained  from  meddlinor 
with  the  Low  Countries  she  might  perhaps  escape 
being  assailed  at  home  or  in  Ireland,  the  provocations 
of  the  privateers  in  the  Channel  continued  unchecked, 
and  were  allowed  to  assume  proportions  which  would 
be  incredible  but  for  the  evidence  on  which  they  rest. 

1  Walsingham  to  Cecil,  August  3:  J/»S'S.  France. 

2  Same  to  the  .same,  Seiitember  2G:   MS.  Ibid. 


240  Eistory  of  England.  [Ch.  xxi. 

In  the  spring  of  the  year  the  Prince  of  Orange's  fleet, 
under  Brederode  and  De  la  Mark,  came  down  into 
Dover  roads.  There,  joined  by  their  Enghsh  consorts, 
they  held  complete  command  of  the  Straits.  Every 
Spanish  vessel  which  attempted  to  pass  was  pursued 
and  usually  caught ;  a  market  was  held  in  Dover  for 
the  sale  of  the  cargoes,  while  some  of  the  more  dar- 
ing cruisers  would  harass  the  Spanish  coast,  pilfering 
churches  and  convents,  depreciating  the  price  of  silver 
by  the  quantities  which  they  captured,  and  at  their 
banquets,  when  they  came  back  in  triumph,  drinking 
success  to  piracy  from  the  consecrated  vessels.^ 

Alva  sent  an  armed  squadron  from  Antwerp  to  burn 
out  this  nest  of  hornets.  Brederode  risked  an  eno-age- 
ment,  but  getting  the  worst  of  it,  he  drew  in  under 
the  cliffs,  and  the  English  shore  batteries  opened  upon 
the  Spaniards,  cut  them  up  and  droA'e  them  off  to  sea.^ 
Don  Guerau  protested,  and  demanded  the  punishment 
of  the  officers  in  command.  He  was  referred  in  an- 
swer to  the  example  of  Don  Alvarez  at  Gibraltar,  and 
was  told  that  the  English  waters  were  a  sanctuary.^ 
The  Spanish  ships  had  suffered  too  severely  to  lie  at 
sea  upon  the  watch.  They  retired,  with  Brederode 
and  La  Mark  hanging  in  their  rear,  cutting  off  the 
stragglers  which  had  been  lamed  by  the  English  shot ; 
and  the  next  news  which  came  to  London  were  that, 
not  content  with  selling  their  cargoes,  they  were  sel- 

1  "  Es  tanto  el  robo  que  trux^ron  ahora  que  la  plata  de  Iglesias  no  se 
vendia  sino  a  cinco  sueldos  la  on^a,  y  con  los  Calices  se  brindnban  en  Dobra 
U1WS  d  otros  "  (underlined  by  Philip).  —  Don  Guerau  to  the  King  of  Spain, 
April  15, 1571 ;  Don  Guerau  to  Alva,  April  23 :  MS.  Simancas. 

2  "Navijamuna  ex  piraticis  capta,  reliquis  consternatis,  subito  praater 
spem  ex  Doverensi  arce  munitionibusque  vicinis  magna  pilarum  procella 
tormentis  continenter  emissa  nostram  classem  dissipavit  magno  accept©  in- 
commodo."  — Don  Guerau  to  Burghley,  August  19:  MSS.  Spain. 

3  Don  Guerau  to  Philip,  August  23 :  MS.  Simancas. 


1571.]  Tlie  Reign  of  Elizaheth.  241 

ling  their  prisoners,  like  the  Algerine  corsairs,  for  the 
chance  of  the  ransom  which  they  would  fetch.  The 
extraordinary  spectacle  was  actually  witnessed,  of 
Spanish  gentlemen  being  disposed  of  openly  in  Dover 
market  at  a  hundred  pounds  a  piece,  and  being  kept  in 
irons  at  the  court-house  till  their  friends  could  purchase 
their  liberty. ^ 

It  required  no  small  audacity  on  the  part  of  Eliza- 
beth, when  her  harbours  were  the  scene  of 
outrages  so  unparalleled,  to  send  a  mmister 
to  Madrid  to  settle  her  differences  with  Philip.  She 
calculated,  however,  on  the  notoriously  extreme  reluc- 
tance of  the  King  of  Spain  to  quarrel  with  her.  The 
unlicensed  violences  of  her  subjects,  if  he  was  without 
the  courage  to  resent  them,  might  increase  his  anxiety 
for  a  better  understanding  with  her ;  and  she  probably 
expected  that  Philip  would  submit  to  any  conditions 
which  she  might  please  to  dictate.  She  was  herself 
uneasy  at  the  possible  consequences  of  her  behaviour 
to  France.  She  trusted  perhaps  to  Philip's  alarm  at 
the  report  of  her  intended  marriage,  and  she  may  have 
hoped  that  he  would  meet  her  overtures  with  an  open 
hand.    In  fulfilment  therefore  of  her  promises  to  Alva, 

1  This  remarkable  story  rests  on  the  apparently  sufficient  authority  of  a 
complaint  addressed  by  the  Spanish  Ambassador  to  Burghley.  The  charj^e 
was  openly  brought  and  was  never,  so  far  as  I  can  learn,  denied.  It  will 
be  seen  that  I  have  not  overstated  the  purport  of  Don  Guerau'.s  words:  — 

"  Mitto  ad  Dominationem  tuam  domesticuni  nieum,  ut  te  certiorcm  red- 
dat  de  rebus  quae  fcede  admodum  Doveri  aguntur,  ubi  prostant  publice 
prajda*,  piraticic  venales,  honiinesquc  etiam  nostri  a  latronibus  capti  ven- 
duntur,  neque  vili  valdc  prctio.  Ad  centum  enim  librarum  sunimaui  unus 
ct  alter  censi  fuere,  ijluriinique  etiam  ex  his  captivis  apud  IJailiivium  l)o- 
vercnsem  in  vinculis  asservantur,  interim  piratis  et  Serenissinue  Keginaj 
magistratibus  de  iilorum  redemptione  agentibus.  Tanta  est  autem  illic  tarn 
merciuiu  captanim  f|uani  hominum  auctio  ut  nullum  |)ossit  esse  aliud 
magis  pirataruni  eniporium  in  tota  Europa."  —  Don  Guerau  to  Burghley, 
September  12:  MSS.  Spain. 

VOL.   X.  16 


242  History  of  England.  [Ch.  xxi. 

she  commissioned  Sir  Henry  Cobliam  to  the  Spanish 
Court  in  the  spring,  and  he  arrived  there  just  after 
PhiHp  had  received  the  Duke  of  Alva's  letter,  and  was 
told  to  expect  the  coming  of  Ridolfi. 

The  first  impression  of  the  King  when  he  heard  that 
an  English  envoy  was  coming,  was  much  what  Eliza- 
beth expected :  the  pirates  on  one  side,  and  the  sup- 
port continually  given  to  the  Prince  of  Orange  by  the 
Flemish  refugees  who  had  found  an  asylum  in  Eng- 
land, had  troubled  his  peace  of  mind.  He  had  been 
taught  by  Alva  to  distrust  the  resources  of  the  English 
Catholics,  and  he  was  ready  to  endure  considerable 
humiliation  if  he  could  be  relieved  at  once  of  a  source 
of  perpetual  uneasiness  and  danger.  His  father's  last 
advice  to  him  had  been  to  hold  fast  by  the  English  al- 
liance ;  and  England,  whether  Protestant  or  Catholic, 
was  of  equal  political  importance  to  him. 

The  endurance  of  his  subjects,  however,  had  been  ex- 
hausted, if  Philip  himself  continued  patient.  On  the 
appearance  of  Cobham  a  memorial  was  presented  to 
the  King  by  the  Spanish  merchants,  setting  forth  that, 
besides  the  losses  which  they  were  daily  experiencing 
from  the  pirates,  the  property  already  taken  from  them 
by  the  English  privateers  amounted  to  more  than  three 
milHons.i  ^g  j-j^g  fj^g  q^  gpaji^  ^^s  no  longer  a  pro- 
tection to  them,  they  said  that  they  must  decline  for 
the  future  to  fulfil  their  contracts  with  his  Majesty,  or 
make  themselves  responsible  for  the  transport  of  far- 
ther money  or  stores  to  the  army  in  Flanders.^ 

The  remonstrance  of  the  merchants  was  followed  by 
a  remarkable  letter  from  the  Duke  of  Feria  to  Philip's 

1  3,000,000  ducats. 

2  Address  of  the  merchants  at  Madrid  to  the  Kuig  of  Spain,  April  28: 
MS.  Simancas. 


1571.]  TJie  Reign  of  EUzaheth.  243 

secretary,  written  no  doubt  for  the  King  to  see,  but 
without  the  constraint  which  must  have  been  imposed 
upon  his  pen  had  he  addressed  himself  to  PhiUp  di- 
rectly. De  Feria,  with  his  English  wife,  his  English 
friends,  and  his  English  experience,  believed  himself 
qualified  to  speak  with  authority.  He  had  seen  Cob- 
ham  and  had  heard  what  he  had  to  say.  His  opinion 
of  the  situation  he  expressed  thus  :  — 

THE  DUKE  OF  FERIA  TO   CAYAS.i 

"  May  10. 

"  We  propose,  I  am  told,  to  keep  on  terms  of  friend- 
ship with  England  ;  because,  to  make  ourselves  com- 
plete masters  of  that  country  and  of  Ireland  is  not 
immediately  practicable.  If  the  sovereign  of  England 
is  not  a  Catholic,  it  will  be  very  difficult  for  us  to 
maintain  that  friendship  ;  and  yet,  without  it,  we  are 
unable  to  keep  our  hold  upon  the  Low  Countries. 
The  Queen  has  found  us  timid,  and  she  now  thinks  to 
frighten  us  by  pretending  that  she  will  marry  with 
France.  She  will  no  more  marry  with  France  than 
she  Avill  marry  me.  She  is  no  longer  young,  she  has 
no  strength  to  bear  children,  and  she  cannot  live  much 
longer.  She  is  loathed  by  the  nobility.  She  perse- 
cutes the  Catholics,  and  she  closes  her  ports  to  prevent 
them  from  leaving  the  realm  ;  but  for  all  this  she  has 
failed  to  break  their  spirit.  They  are  stronger  than 
ever,  and  she  knows  it.  That  France  and  England 
can  become  friends  is  most  unlikely.  The  two  nations 
instinctively  hate  each  other,  and  the  two  Queens  can 
never  trust  one  another.  Against  us,  on  the  other 
hand,  they  have  no  natural  enmity  ;  our  relations  with 
them  have  been  uniformly  good,  and  commerce  with 

1  MS.  Simancas. 


244  History  of  England.  [Ch.  xxi. 

Spain  and  the  Netherlands  has  been  most  profitable  to 
them,  while  the  French  have  not  a  friend  in  the  realm. 
The  whole  Catholic  party  are  on  our  side,  consisting  as 
it  does  of  all  the  greatest  families.  If  we  do  not  help 
them  as  they  ask  us,  we  shall  offend  God,  and  we  shall 
leave  the  country  to  the  heretics.  The  Queen  is  only 
prevented  from  making  open  war  l^pon  us  by  the  want 
of  men  and  money  ;  and  if  Cobham  is  not  now  sent 
away  with  an  answer  of  becoming  spirit,  an  attempt  to 
conciliate  her  will  only  involve  us  in  fresh  troubles,  and 
we  shall  have  ruined  the  Catholics,  even  while  they 
have  arms  in  their  hands  to  help  themselves  and  us. 
Let  the  Queen  know  that  our  King  undertakes. to  pro- 
tect her  Catholic  subjects :  I  warrant  she  will  no  more 
ill  use  them,  and  there  is  no  other  way  out  of  our  pres- 
ent difficulties.  For  two  yeai^s  now  we  have  been 
taking  the  coward's  road  ;  we  have  found  it  a  dirty  one, 
and  it  is  time  for  us  to  try  another.  No  one  has  a 
better  right  than  I  to  speak  of  this  matter :  I  have  had 
much  to  do  with  the  English,  I  know  the  Queen,  I 
know  her  ministers,  I  know  their  ways  and  their  re- 
sources, and  I  cannot  conceive  for  what  reason  we  are 
so  needlessly  hesitating.^  Cobham  called  on  me  the 
morning  on  which  he  arrived.  He  brought  me  most 
loving  messages  from  the  Queen,  and  remained  some 
time  with  me.  But  I  could  get  nothincr  from  him  of 
any  consequence,  except  entreaties  that  I  would  exert 
myself  for  the  restoration  of  trade.  He  left  me  more 
assured  than  ever  that  this  is  not  the  time  for  us  to 


1  De  Feria's  effective  metaphor  does  not  bear  a  closer  translation.    His 
words  are: 

"  No  se  porque  nos  meamos  en  el  vado  tan  sin  porque." 
Ttie  plirase  "  mear  en  el  vado  "  is  no  longer  in  use  in  Spanish.    It  means 
however,  obviousl}',  that  the  ford  of  a  river  is  no  place  to  stop  in  for  pur- 
poses which  can  be  attended  to  elsewhere. 


1571.]  The  Reign  of  EUzahetli.  245 

turn  our  backs  upon  the  Catholics.  If  we  are  not 
prompt  in  moving  we  shall  find  ourselves  in  a  dilemma 
from  which  there  will  be  no  escape.  Tell  the  Lords 
of  the  Council  from  me,  to  be  careful  what  they  do  or 
say." 

The  English  envoy  seems  to  have  been  wholly  un- 
prepared for  the  temper  with  which  his  arrival  was  re- 
ceived. The  Spanish  Government  considered  them- 
selves beyond  comparison  the  party  most  aggrieved. 
Cobham  presented  himself  merely  with  a  list  of  com- 
plaints against  Philip  and  his  ministers.  The  Queen, 
he  said,  had  desired  above  all  things  to  remain  on  good 
terms  with  Spain.  The  Duke  of  Alva,  without  the 
smallest  provocation,  had  arrested  the  English  ships 
and  goods  in  the  harbours  of  the  Low  Countries.  He 
had  since  attempted  to  arrange  the  quarrel,  but  his 
proposals  had  been  such  as  the  Queen  could  not  hon- 
ourably accept ;  and  meanwhile,  both  at  Madrid  and  at 
Brussels,  English  traitors  were  received  with  open 
arms,  and  treated  with  marked  consideration.  He  was 
directed  by  his  mistress  to  say,  that  she  declined  to 
correspond  with  the  Duke  of  Alva  any  longer  on  these 
subjects.  She  requested  his  Majesty  to  discuss  them 
immediately  with  herself.  If  his  Majesty  would  ban- 
ish Sir  Thomas  Stukely  from  Spain,^  and  if  he  would 
send  orders  to  Flandei's  for  the  immediate  dismissal  of 
the  refugees,  the  differences  between  the  two  countries 
could  be  satisfactorily  adjusted,  and  the  arrested  prop- 
erty on  both  sides  be  restored. 

Elizabeth  as  the  wife  of  the  Duke  of  Anjou  might 
have  held  this  language  with  success.     Resting  as  it 

1  Stukely's  storj'  will  be  told  hereafter.     He  had  come  from  Ireland  to 
ask  for  help  in  an  intended  insurrection  there. 


2i6  History  of  England.  [Ch.  xxi. 

did  upon  a  mere  threat  of  a  marriage  which  no  one  out 
of  England  expected  to  see  fulfilled,  and  coming  simul- 
taneously with  an  offer  which  promised  to  place  Eliza- 
beth and  her  throne  at  Philip's  mercy,  the  insolence 
of  it  was  too  much  for  the  already  sorely  tried  Castil- 
ians.  The  sluggish  blood  of  the  King  himself  ran 
quicker  in  his  veins  when  he  was  required  to  refuse 
even  common  hospitality  to  the  Catholic  exiles. 

The  Council  sat  for  a  week  to  consider  their  reply. 
Their  discussions  were  submitted  day  after  day  to  the 
King,  and  returned  with  his  comments  on  the  margin. 
Their  resolution  shaped  itself  at  last  into  the  following 
form  :  — 

"  The  envoy  had  come  to  treat  with  the  King  in 
person.  The  King  should  decline  to  hear  or  speak 
with  him  on  any  public  matter.  The  envoy  should  be 
informed  privately  that  his  complaints  and  demands 
were  alike  preposterous.  The  disputes  had  notoriously 
commenced  in  the  seizure  of  the  Spanish  treasure  ;  and 
while  the  English  harbours  were  dens  of  pirates  from 
which  the  King's  revolted  subjects  preyed  upon  his 
commerce,  while  the  crews  were  recruited  from  Eno-lish 
subjects,  and  guns  and  powder  supplied  to  them  from 
English  arsenals,  to  make  a  grievance  of  the  residence 
of  a  few  persecuted  Catholics  in  the  King's  dominions 
was  intolerably  monstrous." 

This,  and  this  alone,  ought,  in  the  opinion  of  the 
Council,  to  be  the  answer  of  the  Spanish  Government, 
and  Philip  at  first  wished  to  dismiss  the  envoy  from  the 
Court  without  so  much  as  admitting  him  to  his  pres- 
ence. When  he  consented  at  last  to  grant  him  an  in- 
terview,  it  was  to  make  the  permission  more  insulting 
than  a  refusal.  He  was  at  the  Palace  of  Aranjuez, 
thirty  miles  from  Madrid.     Cobham  went  down  there, 


1571.]  The  Reign  of  Elizabeth.  247 

and  the  Kino-  saw  him  for  a  few  minutes  only  ;  the 
common  forms  of  hospitaUty  were  not  extended  to  him  ; 
he  was  left  to  dine  at  an  inn,  and  returned  to  the  capi- 
tal the  same  evenino-.  The  Council  thouo-ht  that  for 
the  King's  credit  some  small  present  might  be  given  to 
him  :  there  was  no  precedent  for  the  reception  of  an 
ambassador  and  his  departure  empty-handed.  But 
Philip,  being  once  launched  upon  the  bold  course,  was 
more  bitter  than  his  advisers.  "  Presents,"  wrote  the 
King  in  a  side-note,  "  are  given  to  envoys  when  they 
come  on  a  mission  of  good-will,  and  they  are  given 
when  they  come  to  declare  war.  But  this  man  comes 
merely  to  threaten  and  terrify  us.  If  we  bestow  a 
present  on  him  he  will  boast  of  it,  we  shall  dispirit  the 
Catholics,  and  inflate  the  heretics  with  the  belief  that 
we  are  afraid."  ^ 

De  Feria  in  the  character  of  an  acquaintance  de- 
livered the  private  message.  Cobliam  tried  to  argue 
that  Alva  had  been  the  ascrressor ;  but  De  Feria  cut 
him  short  with  saying,  that  he  was  sorry  to  hear  an 
Eno-lish  ambassador  condescending  to  falsehoods.  He 
asked  for  the  answer  in  writing,  but  he  could  not  have 
it,  and  he  was  then  sent  for  by  the  Council. 

Spinosa,  the  Cardinal  President,  made  a  difficulty 
in  addressino;  a  heretic,  and  would  have  ti'ansferred  the 
duty  to  a  lay  member  of  the  Cabinet.  The  words, 
however,  it  was  thought  would  come  with  more  im- 
posing effect  from  one  who  might  be  supposed  to  speak 
in  the  name  of  God  as  well  as  of  man.  The  Cardinal 
therefore  swallowed  his  scruples,  and  tlms  delivered 
the  reply  of  Spain  to  the  Queen  of  England  :  — 

"  If  that    Queen    would  Cullil    the  office  of  a  good 

1  "Lo  que  parece  sobre  el  negocio  de  Cobham."  —  Aranjuez,  Mayo  14  (5  ' 
19:  MS.  Simancas. 


248  History  of  England.  [Ch.  xxi. 

neighbour  and  friend,  his  Majesty  had  given  proofs 
ah'eady  that  he  would  not  on  his  part  be  found  want- 
ing towards  her.  It  would  please  him  much  if  the 
differences  between  the  two  countries  could  be  com- 
pounded, and  as  a  step  towards  it  his  Majesty  trusted 
that  the  Queen  of  England  would  at  once  restore  the 
Spanish  treasure.  The  details  of  the  negotiation  how- 
ever were  committed  to  the  maUao-ement  of  the  Duke 
of  Alva,  and  to  him  she  was  referred."  ^ 

With  this  answer  and  without  his  present  Sir  Henry 
Cobham  returned  to  England,  sick  at  heart 
with  the  same  fears  which  haunted  Cecil,  and 
little  dreamincr  then  how  soon  he  would  again  be  at 
Madrid  with  the  same  message,  to  find  the  note  of  de- 
fiance dying  away  in  prostration  and  humility. 

The  Spanish  Ambassador  chuckled  over  the  dismay 
with  which  the  news  of  his  failure  was  received.  "  My 
Lord  Burghley's  burlesques,"  ^  he  said,  "  had  gone  off' 
so  well  hitherto  that  he  despised  danger  and  thought 
that  he  had  taken  a  bond  of  fortune.  He  with  his 
friends  had  made  a  jest  of  our  endurance.  His  con- 
science stings  him  now,  but  his  malice  is  inveterate. 
He  is  given  over  to  reprobate  courses  and  cannot  turn 
to  any  good.  His  Majesty  is  wise  and  will  provide 
against  their  tricks,  though  to  see  through  them  he  re- 
quires more  eyes  than  Argus  had.  I  will  do  my  part 
to  make  him  respected,  as  the  great  Prince  which  he 
is,  both  by  friends  and  enemies :  but  we  must  dissem- 
ble and  be  as  Proteus,  and  hide  our  purposes,  and  they 
shall  pay  for  their  iniquities    at  last  as  they  deserve. 

1  "  Lo  que  parece  se  debe  responder  a  Enrique  Cobham  de  palabra,  y 
ninguna  cosa  por  scripto.     Mayo  1571."  —  MS.  Simancas. 

2  The  pun  is  Don  Guerau's.  "  Y  conio  a  Milord  Burghley  todas  las  bur- 
las  hasta  aqui  le  han  salido  bieu,"  &c.  —  Don  Guerau  to  Caj'as,  July  12; 
MS.  Ibid. 


1571  ]  Tlie  Reign  of  Elizabeth.  249 

The  audacity  of  Burghley  in  sending  Cobhani  with 
such  a  message  Avas  indeed  marvellous  ;  but  knowiiif 
them  as  I  do,  I  am  surprised  at  nothing.  We  must 
provide  in  time.  If  this  French  marriage  or  leao-ue, 
or  both  together,  come  about,  they  can  do  us  harm  in 
the  Provinces,  but  as  certainly  we  can  make  a  revolu- 
tion in  England  ;  and  I  have  no  fear,  if  we  are  only 
prompt  enough  and  do  not  allow  this  French  business 
to  consolidate  itself.  It  need  seem  no  work  of  ours, 
but  merely  a  rebellion  in  which  we  may  be  called  in  to 
assist ;  and  before  the  summer  is  over  we  can  transfer 
to  their  island  the  mischief  which  they  tried  to  work 
in  Flanders."  ^ 

Once  more  we  go  back  to  Ridolfi,  who,  leaving 
Alva,  made  his  way  with  all  speed  to  Rome.  His 
commission  was  duly  delivered,  and  the  Pope,  the  Car- 
dinals, and  Don  Juan  de  Cuniga  sat  in  conclave  upon 
it.  Pius  himself  was  in  ecstasies,  eager  to  begin,  and 
seeing  nothing  but  the  bright  side  of  the  prospect. 
Don  Juan  attempted  to  moderate  his  transports  by 
pointing  to  France  ;  but  the  Pope  would  listen  to  noth- 
ing. As  Christ's  vicar  he  was  in  the  secrets  of  Provi- 
dence, and  he  answered  "  that  God  would  manage  it." 
This  conviction  Don  Juan  could  not  interfere  with. 
He  contented  himself  with  insisting  upon  caution,  and 
with  sending  a  careful  account  of  Ridolfi's  reception  to 
his  master  :  one  curious  point  only  he  Avas  able  to  men- 
tion, which  it  seems  Ridolfi  had  told  him.  There  was 
no  hope  that  the  Spanish  property  detained  in  England 
could  be  recovered  by  treaty,  for  not  only  those  who 
had  prompted  the  seizure  of  the  treasure  were  unwill- 
ing to  part  with  it,  but  the  Catholics  and  the  Queen  of 

1  Don   Guerau  to   Cayas,   July   12  and   July   19,    abridged:    MS.   Si- 
mancas. 


250  History  of  England.  [Ch.  xxr. 

Scots  intended  to  support  them  in  their  refusal,  that 
they  might  compel  Spain  to  go  to  war.^ 

But  Philip  now  required  no  additional  pressing. 
After  dismissing  Cobham  he  was  only  eager  for  Ri- 
dolfi's  comino;.  He  had  learned  from  England  that 
the  Government  was  alarmed,  and  he  was  uneasy  at 
delay  as  giving  Elizabeth  time  to  prepare  —  time  per- 
haps to  marry  Anjou,  or,  still  worse,  time  to  make  dis- 
coveries which  might  cost  Norfolk  and  the  Queen  of 
Scots  their  heads.^  The  same  misgiving  crossed  his 
•mind  at  first  which  had  occurred  to  Alva,  that  Ridolfi 
might  at  bottom  be  an  agent  of  Cecil ;  but  it  passed 
off;  Don  Guerau's  letter  satisfied  him  that  on  this 
ground  there  was  nothing  to  fear. 

At  length,  the  last  week  in  June,  Ridolfi  came. 
"  He  has  arrived  at  last,"  wrote  Philip,  giving  an  ac- 
count to  Don  Guerau  of  his  appearance.  "  I  have  re- 
ceived your  letter  with  those  also  from  the  Queen  of 
Scots  and  the  Duke  of  Norfolk.  Ridolfi  has  brought 
me  also  a  note  from  his  Holiness.  I  am  most  anxious 
to  do  something,  not  for  any  object  of  my  own  or  for 
any  human  interest,  but  merely  and  simply  for  God's 
glory.  What  I  can  and  ought  to  do  shall  be  done,  and 
I  shall  now  decide  what  it  is  to  be.  You  will  say  thus 
much  from  me  to  the  Catholics,  and  bid  them  be  secret 
and  quiet.  Oppressed  and  ill-treated  as  they  have 
been,  they  may  possibly  be  too  precipitate  in  their 
thirst  for  vengeance  and  may  move  before  the  time. 
Tell  them  that  of  all  things  they  must  keep  still  till 
our  preparations  are  complete  ;  if  not,  they  may  share 
the  fate  of  the  two  Earls  ;  their  cause  will  be  lost,  the 
Queen  of  Scots  will  be  put  to  death,  and  all  the  other 

1  Don  Juan  de  Cuniga  to  Philip,  May  11  and  17:  MS.  Simancas. 

2  Philip  II.  to  Don  Guerau,  June  20:  31 S.  Ibid. 


1571.]  TJie  Beign  of  Elizabeth.  2;'l 

misfortunes  which  they  can  easily  imagine  will  follow. 
I  have  sent  a  courier  to  the  Duke  of  Alva  to  desire 
liim  at  once  to  place  himself  in  communication  with 
you,  and  to  direct  you  from  time  to  time  how  you  are 
to  conduct  yourself."  ^ 

To  resolve  to  do  something  was  by  no  means  the 
same  as  to  resolve  what  to  do.  Alva,  it  was  seen, 
disapproved  Ridolfi's  method,  briefly  indicating  another 
of  his  own  ;  and  in  the  Council  Chamber  at  Madrid, 
to  which  Philip  returned  from  Aranjuez  in  the  begin- 
ning of  July,  there  was  held  a  remarkable  discussion, 
the  notes  of  which  were  preserved,  though  not  in- 
tended for  the  curious  eyes  of  mankind  —  a  discussion 
first  on  the  fitness,  and  then  on  the  feasibility,  of  mur- 
dering the  Queen  of  England. 

The  assassination  of  political  enemies  has  an  ugly 
sound,  and  in  later  and  calmer  times  men  of  all  beliefs 
and  parties  have  agreed  in  one  opinion  about  it.  Yet, 
first,  it  does  not  differ  so  very  widely  from  a  practice 
still  in  use  in  our  dependencies,  of  offering  a  reward 
for  the  body  of  troublesome  persons,  whether  quick  or 
dead ;  and  secondly,  in  that  passionate  16th  century 
it  was  not  peculiar  to  creed  or  nation.  Catholics  pro- 
fess abhorrence  of  the  nmrder  of  Beton  in  Scotland. 
Protestants  retort  with  effect  by  pointing  to  the  Re- 
gent Murray,  the  Prince  of  Orange,  and  the  black 
butchery  of  St.  Bartholomew.  But  both  Protestants 
and  Catholics  might  well  drop  their  mutual  reproaches ; 
their  sin  was  the  sin  of  their  age,  the  natural  refuire  of 
men  who  were  driven  desperate  by  difficulties  which 
fair  means  would  not  clear  away  for  them.  Lord  Sus- 
sex, in  Ireland,  would  have  murdered  Shan  O'Neil. 
Cecil,  a  few  pages  back,  was  seen  treating  with  some 
1  Philip  II.  to  Don  Guerau,  July  13. 


252  History  of  England.  [Ch.  xxi. 

villain  for  the  death  of  the  Earl  of  Westmoreland.  In 
this  meeting  of  Philip's  Cabinet  there  was  the  most 
profound  impression  that  they  could  invite  the  blessing 
of  God  upon  the  execution  of  Elizabeth  —  that,  on  the 
whole,  God  would  look  upon  it  with  decided  approba- 
tion. They  were  all  present,  Cardinal  Spinosa,  Ruy 
Gomez,  famous  afterwards  as  the  Prince  of  Eboli,  the 
Papal  Nuncio,  the  Grand  Prior,  Alva's  son,  Don  Fer- 
dinand of  Toledo,  and  the  Duke  of  Feria.  Chapin 
Vitelli  had  come  across  from  Flanders  to  attend  the 
Council,  with  a  purpose  presently  to  be  seen.  The 
account  of  what  passed  is  compendious  —  taken  down, 
apparently,  in  shorthand  —  in  some  places  confused,  in. 
others  imperfect.  The  general  drift,  however,  is  intel- 
ligible, with  some  noticeable  details. 

On  the  essential  desirableness  of  interfering,  and 
interfering  promptly,  in  England,  the  whole 
Cabinet  was  agreed.  The  cause  was  the 
cause  of  God,  and  the  King  of  Spain  was  the  person  on 
whom  the  duty  manifestly  devolved.  The  Catholic 
party  Avas  wearing  away.  It  would  never  be  stronger 
than  it  was  at  that  moment.  If  the  Catholic  Powers 
hung  back,  it  would  lose  heart  and  dissolve.  The 
Queen  of  England  might  marry  the  French  Prince, 
and  heresy  would  become  too  powerful  throughout 
Europe  to  be  afterwards  put  down.  The  broad  princi- 
ple was  plain ;  the  details  were  less  easy  to  settle. 
Alva,  who  was  supposed  to  have  crushed  the  rebellion 
in  the  Low  Countries,  had  long  solicited  his  recall, 
preferring  to  leave  to  other  hands  the  work  of  recon- 
struction and  reconciliation.  The  Duke  of  Medina 
Celi  had  been  chosen  for  his  successor ;  but  with  the 
usual  slowness  of  Spanish  movements,  the  preparations 
for  the  change  were  still  incomplete.     It  was  thought, 


1571.]  The  Reign  of  Elizabeth.  253 

however,  that  with  an  eflPort  the  intended  arranoe- 
ments  could  be  hurried  forward.  It  could  be  repre- 
sented that  Alva's  troops  required  to  be  relieved,  as 
well  as  their  general,  and  without  exciting  a  suspicion 
a  second  army  and  a  large  fleet  could  then  be  collected, 
under  pretence  of  accompanying  the  new  Viceroy. 
The  army  in  the  Netherlands,  in  the  same  way,  could 
be  marched  to  the  ports,  as  if  to  embark  for  Spain  ; 
and  the  money  for  the  English  campaign  could  be  pro- 
vided, also,  as  if  for  the  necessities  of  the  Brussels 
treasury.  So  far  no  great  difficulty  was  anticipated. 
Twice  the  number  of  men  for  which  Norfolk  asked 
could  be  landed  in  England  without  difficulty  ;  but  the 
question  next  arose,  what  reason  they  wei'e  to  allege  to 
the  world  for  their  appearance  there  ?  what  proclama- 
tion were  the  Spaniards  to  put  out  ?  what  were  they 
to  say  that  they  were  come  to  do  ? 

The  Nuncio  at  once  took  upon  himself  to  answer. 
Like  his  master,  he  made  light  of  difficulties.  He  be- 
lieved that  twelve  legions  of  angels  would  accompany 
the  expedition.  The  one  sufficient  pretext,  he  said, 
•was  in  the  Bull  of  Excommunication.  The  Vicar  of 
God  had  deprived  Elizabeth  of  her  throne.  The  sol- 
diers of  the  Church  were  the  instruments  of  his  de- 
cree, and  were  executing  the  sentence  of  Heaven 
against  the  heretical  tyrant. 

The  Spanish  ministers  were  loyal  members  of  Holy 
Church.  Alone  among  Christian  sovereigns,  the 
Spanish  King  had  upheld  in  the  Mediterranean  the 
Cross  against  the  Crescent,  and  was  still  performing, 
single-handed,  the  duties  in  which  every  baptised 
prince  had  once  sought  and  claimed  his  share.  IMiih'p 
II.  was  the  one  Crusader  that  survived  in  Europe  ; 
but  change  of  times  had  not  left  even  Spain  untouciied 


254  History  of  England.  [Ch.  xxi. 

by  the    modern   spirit.     Popes    had   more    than    once 
shifted  sides  in  the  long  war  with  France,  and  an  un- 
conditional recognition  of  their    claims    to    dispose  of 
kingdoms   was   no   longer   convenient.       The   border 
could  not  be  defined  precisely  of  that  cloudy  debat- 
able   land  where   the    temporal   and    spiritual    powers 
passed  one  into  the  other ;  but  the  Catholic  King  him- 
self could  not  allow  the  two  provinces  to  be  co-exten- 
sive, or  seem  to  sanction  the  pretensions  of  the  Holy 
See  to  depose  sovereigns  or  absolve  subjects  from  their 
allegiance.     The  Bull  had  been  issued  without  Philip's 
knowledge ;  it  had  not  yet  been  published  in  Philip's 
dominions  ;  and  as  the  Duke  of  Feria  observed,  some 
Pope    of  the  future  might  trouble  Spain  with  similar 
assumptions.!     Even    the  Cardinal    Spinosa    preferred 
national  to  ultramontane   interests,  and  the    Nuncio's 
proposal  was  politely  waived  on  the  plea  that  it  would 
needlessly  complicate  the  problem  ;  that  it  would  de- 
feat the  plan  of  the  Duke  of  Norfolk,  and  be  a  signal 
for  a  general  league  between  all  the    heretics  in  the 
world.    The  justification,  it  was  soon  concluded,  should 
and  could  be  only  the  Queen  of  Scots'  claim  on  the 
succession  to  the  Crown,  which  the  Queen  of  Enrdand 
unjustly  refused  to  recognise.     Even    the  wrono-s  of 
Spain  were  better  passed  over  in  silence.     The  Kino- 

111*  ^ 

should  appear  m  the  matter  solely  as  the  champion  of 
a  Princess  who  was  injured  and  oppressed.  This  being 
determined,  the  next  point  was  the  time  and  manner 
of  the  invasion.  Should  Spain  begin  ?  or  should  the 
English  Catholics  begin  ?  The  English  Catholics 
wished  to  see  Spain  commit  itself  before  they  ventured 
another  insurrection.     The  Duke  of  Alva  had  insisted 

1  "  Peligroso  hacer  la  empresa  en  nombre  de  su  Santidad,  porque  para 
lo  de  adelante  vendria  otro  Papa  que  quisiese  mezclarse  con  nosotros." 


1571.]  The  Reign  of  Elizabeth.  255 

that  they  should  first  do  something  for  themselves,  and 
the  Spanish  Cabinet  were  of  the  same  opinion.  Ri- 
dolfi,  who  was  admitted  to  the  Council,  reproduced  the 
scheme  which  he  had  laid  before  the  Duke  ;  but  the 
Duke's  letter  was  at  hand,  to  be  considered  by  the  side 
of  it ;  and  it  was  thought  certain  that  any  such  step 
as  Ridolfi  proposed  would  bring  France  into  the  field. 
The  Nuncio  said  that  the  Pope  would  undertake  for 
France  ;  but  the  Pope's  temperament  was  more  san- 
guine than  judicious  ;  and  thus  the  question  narrowed 
down  to  the  ground  taken  by  Alva.  The  key  of  the 
situation  was  Elizabeth's  life.  The  Catholics  would 
make  nothing  of  an  insurrection  while  the  Queen  was 
alive  and  at  large.  She  must  either  be  killed  or  cap- 
tured. That,  in  Alva's  opinion,  should  be  the  reply 
wdiich  Ridolfi  should  carry  back.  The  English  must 
do  that  part  of  the  business  themselves ;  as  soon  as  it 
was  accomplished,  the  Spanish  army  should  be  in- 
stantly set  in  motion. 

Yet  it  was  felt  that  if  they  waited  for  this  consum- 
mation they  might  wait  long  or  forever.  There  were 
traitors  in  plenty  about  the  Queen.  There  was  Leices- 
ter's accursed  crew  in  the  household,  and  Arundel 
and  Crofts  upon  the  Council  ;  but  either  they  Avere 
faint-hearted,  or  the  English  nature  did  not  understand 
the  art  of  murder.  Spaniards  and  Italians  could  do  it ; 
Scots  could  do  it  excellently  ;  but  the  English,  from 
some  cause  or  other,  were  wanting  in  the  necessary 
qualities.  Ridolfi,  when  questioned  on  the  possibilities 
that  way,  gave  unsatisfiictory  answers.  There  was  not 
one  among  Norfolk's  friends  about  the  Queen  who 
could  be  thoroughly  relied  upon  for  any  desperate  en- 
terprise.^    There  were  seven  or  eight  noblemen,  iiow- 

1  "  El  Duque  no  tiene  pereona  de  los  que  estan  con  la  Keyiia  en  quien 
hacer  fundamento." 


256  History  of  England.  [Ch.  xxi. 

ever,  he  said,  anv  one  of  whom  would  make  the  neces- 
sary  opportunities,  if  some  one  else  could  be  found  to 
do  the  thing,  and  all  would  be  ready  to  come  forward 
afterwards.  He  named  Windsor,  Lumley,  South- 
ampton, St.  John,  Arundel,  Worcester,  Montague  — 
especially  and  peculiarly  Montague  ;  and  Chapin  Vi- 
telli,  who  had  come  from  the  Netherlands  for  this  par- 
ticular purpose,  now  presented  himself  to  help  the 
Council  in  their  dilemma.  They  would  give  him 
credit,  he  said,  for  being  disinterested,  for  he  was  going 
to  risk  his  own  life.  He,  if  the  matter  was  trusted  to 
him,  would  take  or  kill  the  Queen.  He  knew  Eng- 
land. He  was  acquainted  with  the  noblemen  whom 
Ridolfi  mentioned.  It  could  not  be  done  in  London  ; 
but  at  the  end  of  the  summer  Elizabeth  would  go  on 
progress.  She  travelled  inadequately  guarded.  She 
stayed  at  different  country  houses.  He  would  go  over 
with  ten  or  fifteen  companions ;  and  when  she  was  — 
as  she  need  not  fail  to  be  —  the  guest  of  Montague,  or 
some  other  of  the  set,  he  would  obtain  access  to  her 
person,  perhaps  pretending  some  commission  such  as 
he  had  been  sent  upon  before,  and  then  and  there  cut 
the  knot  of  all  difficulties. ^     The  Lords  would  have  a 

1  "  A  mf  convieiie  comen^ar  por  ellos,  y  matar  6  prender  la  Reyna  que 
de  otra  manera  luego  se  casaria  y  mataria  a  la  de  Escocia.  El  punto  prin- 
cipal que  prendiesen  a  la  Reyna.  Offresce  Chapin  de  prenderla  con  diez  6 
quince  hombres  en  la  casa  de  placer;  que  fuesen  con  titulo  de  demandar 
justicia;  que  en  Londres  seria  dificultoso.     Offrece  de  ir  a  ello  en  persona. 

"  Lo  que  dixo  Vitelli  que  pues  el  pone  la  vida,  bien  se  entendera  que  no 
le  mueve  interesse.  .  .  .  que  el  efecto  se  ha  de  hacer  yendo  la  Reyna  ea 
progreso,  y  en  ninguna  manera  en  Londres,  porque  alii  es  la  heregia. 

"James  Grafts  (Crofts)  es  hombre  para  el  efecto.  Que  en  case  que  se 
haya  de  hacerlo  en  progreso  serian  convenientes  Montague  y  .  .  .  y  en 
casa  de  algunos  de  los  caballeros,  y  bastaran  seys,  siendo  luego  asistidos  de 
otra  gente :  que  ellos  estan  resueltos  en  despachar  a  la  Reyna.  Tienen  a 
Clinton  y  James  Crofts,  Windsor,  Lumley,  Montague,  Southampton,  St. 
John,  Arundel,  Worcester."  —  Lo  que  se  platico  en  consejo  sobre  las  cosaa 
de  luglaterra  en  Madrid,  Sabado  7  de  Julio,  1576 :  MS.  Simancas. 


1571.]  The  Reign  of  Elizahetli.  257 

force  in  readiness  to  support  him.  The  Queen  of 
Scots  would  be  safe  with  Lord  Shrewsbury  ;  the 
Countess  was  a  Cathohc,  and  conducted  that  Queen's 
secret  correspondence.^  Tlie  Cathohcs  would  then 
everywhere  rise,  Alva  would  cross  the  Channel,  and 
the  I'evolution  would  be  over  before  the  French  had 
recovered  from  their  first  astonishment. 

The  date  of  this  notable  conference  agreed  nearly 
with  that  of  Cecil's  saddest  letter  to  Walsinoham. 
Not  without  reason,  Cecil  believed  that  England's 
supreme  hour  of  trial  was  drawing  near,  and  but  for 
the  accident  that  the  intended  bridegroom  was  as  re- 
luctant  as  the  bride,  Elizabeth  would  have  selected 
that  particular  opportunity  for  insulting  France,  and 
adding  another  enemy  to  those  who  were  already  in 
league  against  her. 

The  resolution  of  Philip's  Council  was  immediately 
forwarded  to  Alva ;  and  Ridolfi,  according  to  the 
Queen  of  Scots'  instructions,  would  have  gone  on  to 
Portugal.  But  Philip  was  unwilling  to  extend  further 
the  circle  of  conspiracy.  If  the  enterprise  was  to 
succeed  at  all,  his  own  troops  would  be  sufficient,  and 
Ridolfi's  headlong  temjjer  did  not  personally  recom- 
mend him  to  confidence.  He  too  was  sent  to  Brussels 
to  be  at  Alva's  orders.  He  wrote  enthusiastic  letters 
to  Norfolk,  to  Mar}'  Stuart,  and  the  Bishop  of  Ross, 
detailing  his  success,  and  forwarded  them  under  cover 
to  Don  Guerau ;  but  there  was  so  much  fear  of  a  pre- 
mature disturbance,  that  Alva  ordered  Don  Guerau  not 
to  deliver  them,  forbade  him  to  mention  their  arrival, 
or  to  open  his  lips  upon  the  subject  to  any  living  per- 
son till  further  orders.^ 

1  "  Por  medio  della  van  y  vienen  las  cartas  y  avisos." 

2  Alva  to  Don  Guerau,  July  30:  MS.  Slmancas. 
VOL.  X.  17 


258  History  of  England.  [Ch.  xxi. 

The  Catholic  Kino-  meanwhile  made  such  haste  as 
he  was  able  to  fit  out  the  Duke  of  Medina  Celi,  whom 
Chapin  was  to  accompany.^  The  power  of  Spain  was 
still  vast,  but  its  movements  were  ponderous  and  slow. 
The  Duke  of  Feria  died  in  August,  and 
with  him  the  most  ardent  in  the  matter  of  all 
the  Council.  Other  matters  too  claimed  attention. 
Don  John  of  Austria  was  in  the  Mediterranean,  get- 
ting ready  for  Le panto.  Too  much  time  was  ah'eady 
gone,  and  what  remained  of  the  summer  was  all  too 
little  for  the  work  that  was  to  be  done.  Don  Guerau 
was  growing  restless  and  impatient.  The  English 
Council,  he  said,  suspected  much,  although  as  yet  they 
knew  but  little.  If  the  blow  could  be  struck  quickly, 
all  would  go  well.  The  Catholics  were  three  to  one, 
and  were  all  prepared.  If  the  summer  went  by,  they 
might  despond  again  ;  Scotland  might  be  conquered, 
the  Queen  of  Scots  killed  ;  and  Lord  Hertford  or  the 
little  Prince  of  Scotland  declared  heir  to  the  throne. 
Other  factions  were  fast  mercrino-  in  the  two  ereat  relig- 
ious  divisions,  and  the  longer  the  delay,  the  stronger 
the  Protestants  would  grow.  Above  all,  there  was  no 
safety  while  such  a  man  as  Cecil  was  at  the  head  of 
the  Queen's  Government.  "  Tell  his  Majesty,"  Don 
Guerau  wrote  to  Cayas,  "  that  Cecil  is  a  fox  cunning 
as  sin,  and  the  mortal  enemy  of  Spain.     He  moves  in 

1  There  seems  to  have  been  some  ixncertaint}-,  after  all,  whether  Philip 
did  not  withdraw  his  sanction  of  the  murder.  Writing  on  the  4th  of 
August  to  Alva,  he  tells  hini  simply  to  prepare  to  invade  England,  to  assist 
the  Catholics  who  were  to  rise  in  rebellion.  Chapin,  he  saj's,  was  to  com- 
mand the  expedition. 

Alva  understood  this  to  mean  that  Philip  would  carry  out  Eidolfi's  orig- 
inal proposal.  He  referred  the  King  to  the  objections  which  he  had  al- 
ready laid  before  him,  and  insisted  that  no  force  should  be  sent  to  England 
till  the  Queen  was  in  the  hands  of  Norfolk  and  the  Queen  of  Scots  at 
liberty.  —  Precis  de  la  Correspondance  de  Philip  II. :  Gachard,  Vol.  II. 


1571.J  The  Reign  of  Elizabeth.  259 

silence  and  falsehood,  and  what  he  will  do,  or  try  to 
do  against  us,  is  only  limited  by  his  power.  The 
Queen's  opinion  goes  for  little,  and  Leicester's  for 
less ;  Cecil  rules  all,  unopposed,  with  the  pride  of  Lu- 
cifer." 

But  Cecil  could  be  rolled  in  the  dust  if  only  Philip 
would  be  prompt,  while  the  fire  was  burning  and  the 
iron  hot.  On  the  nio-ht  of  the  4th  of  Auo;ust,  the 
Londoners  were  in  the  streets  gazing  at  a  huge  arch 
in  the  sky,  which  seemed  to  span  the  city,  and  filled 
their  hearts  with  terrors  of  approaching  change.  The 
Catholic  Don  Guei'au  scoffed  at  the  cowardly  supersti- 
tion of  the  enlijihtened  and  Protestant  Eno;lish,  but 
he  pressed  his  master  to  use  the  moment,  and  take  ad- 
vantao-e  of  their  fears.^ 

Tried  by  his  own  standard,  Philip  was  not  working 
without  diligence.  He  had  meditated  for  two  years 
on  sending  Alva  to  the  Low  Countries.  He  had  kept 
his  secret,  matured  his  arrangements,  and  believed  that 
he  had  accomplished  what  he  desired.  To  be  slow  and 
silent,  to  take  every  precaution  to  ensure  success,  and 
then  to  deliver  suddenly  at  last  the  blow  which  had 
been  long  vaguely  impending — this  was  the  Spanish 
method.     It  had  answered    before  :  it   mio;ht    answer 


o 


again. 


So  Philip  thought,  and  let  the  days  go  by.  He  had 
taken  a  false  measure  of  his  antajronist.  It  was  not 
without  reason  that  Don  Guerau  warned  him  to  be- 
ware of  Cecil. 

It  will  be  remembered  that  Sir  John  Hawkins,  in 
his  great  disaster  on  the  coast  of  Mexico,  left  the  ma- 

1  "  Puede  pensar  V.  Magd  quan  alborotados  deben  andar  los  de  Londres 
que  es  gente  miiy  iiiedrosa  }•  ircdula  de  prodigios."  —  Don  Guerau  toCayas, 
August  5;  Don  (jiuerau  to  I'Lilip,  August  8:  MS.  Simancas. 


260  History  of  England.  [Cn.  xxi. 

jority  of  the  survivors  of  his  crews  in  the  hands  of 
the  Spaniards.     Prisoners  of  war  in  all  countries  were 
considerably  worse  off  than  well-befriended  felons  in 
common    gaols.       The   felon    who    had    money    com- 
manded all  the  luxuries  which  the  corruption  of  the 
warders  could  provide.     The  prisoner  of  war,  stripped 
of  everything  that  he  possessed  at  his  capture,  and  far 
away  from  his  friends,  experienced  the  hardest  extrem- 
ities which  the  inhumanity  of  carelessness  could  inflict. 
English  captives  everywhere  would  have  had  no  envi- 
able lot.     In  Spain,  and  in  the  Spanish  colonies,  they 
fell  as  heretics  into  the  hands  of  the  Inquisition.     Some 
of  Hawkins's  men  had  been  burnt ;  all  had  been  more 
or  less  tortured  ;  and  such  as  had  not  died  or  been 
murdered,  had  been  transferred  to  Europe,  and  were 
lying  half  dead  of  hunger  in  the  Archbishop  of  Se- 
ville's dungeons.^     Sir  John  was  not  a  virtuous  man 
in  the    clerical    sense    of  the  word,  but  he    had    the 
affection  of  a  brave  man  for  the    comrades  who    had 
fought  at  his   side  ;  and  the   fate  of  those   poor  fellows 
who   had  hunted  negroes  with  him   in   the  mangrove 
swamps,  had  surveyed  the  reefs  in  the  Gulf  of  Mexico, 
and  shared   so  many  dangers  and  so  many  successes, 
now  lying  in  those  horrid  dens   at  the  mercy  of  the  fa- 
miliars of  the  Holy  Office,  never  left  his  mind.     Two 
years  after  his  return,  while  they  were  still  in  Mexico, 
he   had  intended  to  go   out  in   search  of  them.     The 
Government,  afraid  of  the  consequences,  prevented  the 
expedition,  and   Hawkins,  since  he   was  forbidden   to 
use  force,  determined  to  try  what  he  could  do  by  cun- 
ning.    With  Cecil's  secret  permission,  he  paid  a  visit 
to  Don  Guerau,  complained   of  his   ill   usage  by  the 

1  "Muertos  de  hambre,"  was   the  admission  of  the  Spaniards  them- 
selves. 


1571.]  The  Reign  of  Elizabeth.  261 

Crown,  and  asked  whether  notlilng  could  be  done  for 
the  rehef  of  his  companions.  Don  Guerau  never  lost 
an  op]iortunity  of  encouraging  discontent,  and  Haw- 
kins allowed  himself  to  be  led  on  to  speak  so  bitterly 
of  the  Government,  that  Don  Guerau  suggested  to 
Alva  that  it  miglit  be  worth  while  to  secure  the  grati- 
tude of  so  able  and  formidable  a  person  bj  setting  the 
prisoners  at  liberty.^  Hawkins,  however,  was  not  able 
to  secure  his  object  so  easily ;  nothing  came  of  Don 
Guerau's  suggestion  ;  the  men  wei'e  not  released,  and 
it  was  necessary  to  wade  a  little  deeper. 

About  the  time  when  Ridolfi  was  leaving  England, 
Sir  John  intimated  to  Don  Guerau  that  he  too  was 
weary  of  serving  an  ungrateful  sovereign.  He  pro- 
fessed himself  willing,  if  his  companions  were  restored 
to  him,  to  enter  the  Spanish  service,  and  to  carry  over 
with  him  the  finest  ships  and  the  bravest  sailors  in  the 
Queen's  navy.  Don  Guerau,  who  was  full  of  the  idea 
that  three  quarters  of  the  people  were  disaffected,  saw 
nothing  to  surprise,  but  much  to  delight  him  in  this 
communication.  He  had  sufficient  prudence  not  to 
admit  his  new  friend  to  the  Ridolfi  mystery,  but  he 
wrote  to  Cayas  with  an  account  of  the  offer,  which 
seemed  to  fit  providentially  with  the  scheme  of  the  in- 
tended invasion.  The  sea  was  Elizabeth's  strongest  de- 
fence,  and  Hawkins  was  the  ablest  commander  that  she 
possessed  —  given  to  piracy,  indeed,  but  piracy  was  a 
common  English  failing,  for  which  Spanish  apathy  was 
mucli  to  blame  ^  —  otherwise,  bold,  resolute,  a  splendid 
seaman,  and  a  person  of  station  and  property. 

Encouraged  by  the  ease  with  which  the  Ambassa- 

1  Don  Guerau  to  Alva,  August  21, 1570:  MS.  Simancas. 

2  "  Inclinado  a  robar  come  lo  son  todos  de  su  nacion,  mayonnentc  ahora, 
viondo  que  se  salen  con  todo  sinque  nadie  los  contradiga."  — Don  (jucrau 
to  Cayas,  March  25, 1571. 


262  History  of  England.  [Cn.  xxr. 

dor  was  taken  in,  but  perliaps  disappointed  at  the  little 
which  he  had  learnt,  Sir  John  next  contrived  the 
more  daring  step  of  applying  immediately  to  Philip. 
He  sent  George  Fitzwilliam,  who  seemingly  was  one 
of  his  officers,  to  Madrid,  to  tell  the  King  that  his 
master  was  one  of  the  many  Englishmen  who  were 
broken-hearted  at  the  progress  of  heresy  ;  to  say,  as  a 
faithful  son  of  Holy  Church,  he  was  waiting  for  the 
time  when  the  Queen  would  be  overthrown,  and  the 
crown  pass  to  its  rightful  owner,  the  Queen  of  Scots  ; 
and  that  he  himself,  with  his  friends  in  the  navy,  were 
ready  to  do  their  part  in  bringing  about  that  happy 
consummation. 

The  King,  to  whom  Hawkins's  reputation  had  long 
been  terribly  familiar,  who  could  never  read  his  name 
in  a  despatch  without  scoring  opposite  to  it  a  note  of 
dismay — who  had  heard  of  him  only  in  connexion 
with  negro  -  hunting,  sacked  towns,  and  plundered 
churches,  was  more  astonished  than  Don  Guerau  at  an 
overture  so  utterly  unlooked  for.  One  of  the  pirate 
race,  Thomas  Stukely,  had  indeed  already  come  over 
to  him.  Stukely  was  Sir  John's  cousin,  and  so  far 
the  thing  was  not  utterly  incredible  ;  but  his  instinct 
told  him  to  distrust  the  advances  of  Hawkins,  He 
asked  Fitzwilliam  whether  his  master  was  acquainted 
with  the  Queen  of  Scots.  Fitzwilliam  was  obliged 
to  say  that  he  was  not.  Was  he  in  communication 
with  the  Catholic  noblemen,  or  with  the  refugees  in 
Flanders?  He  had  never  spoken  to  one  of  them. 
But  when  Philip  went  on  to  enquire  who  and  what  he 
was  then,  and  what  claim  he  possessed  to  be  believed, 
Fitzwilliam  haughtily  answered,  that  the  credit  of  Sir 
John  Hawkins  was  in  his  right  hand,  and  what  he  said 
he  meant.     He  had  offered  to  pass  over  to  the  service 


1571.]  Tlie  Beign  of  EUzaleth  2G3 

of  his  Majesty  with  the  Enghsh  fleet.  He  desired 
nothing  in  return  but  the  release  of  a  few  poor  pris- 
oners at  Seville,  who  were  not  worth  the  cost  of  keep- 
ing them.  The  crews  of  the  ships  would  follow  where 
he  led  them.  The  King  need  only  pay  them  their 
usual  wages,  and  advance  some  small  sum  of  money  to 
complete  the  equipment  of  the  vessels  to  which  his 
own  means  were  unequal.^ 

The  thing  was  strange,  but  the  very  boldness  and 
simplicity  of  Fitzwilliam's  language  was  against  the 
notion  of  deception.  The  Duke  of  Feria,  whom 
Philip  consulted,  took  his  cue  from  his  wife's-  rela- 
tions, who  were  enthusiastic  believers  in  the  success 
of  the  revolution.  The  Duke  saw  in  the  adherence 
of  the  great  king  of  the  buccaneers  only  a  fresh  proof 
that  all  Enorland  was  returning  to  the  faith.  Don 
Guerau's  letters  were  favourable  ;  and  Philip  at  last 
listened  —  listened  so  far  at  least  as  to  write  to  the 
Ambassador  for  fuller  information,  and  to  tell  Fitzwil- 
liam  that  if  he  would  return  to  him  with  a  letter  of 
introduction  from  the  Queen  of  Scots,  and  with  a  pre- 
cise and  exact  account  of  what  was  to  be  done,  his 
master's  propositions  should  be  favourably  received, 
and  money  also  should  not  be  wanting  to  put  the  fleet 
in  good  order.  Not  a  hint  had  been  dropped  by  the 
cautious  King  about  the  meditated  invasion  ;  but  the 
Duke  and  Duchess  of  Feria  were  less  cautious.  They 
talked  over  with  FitzwilJiam  the  possible  achievements 
which  Hawkins  might  accom])lish.  They  trusted  him 
with  letters  and  presents  to  the  Queen  of  Scots,  giv- 
ing him  the  excuse  which  he  wanted  for  being  intro- 

1  "  Las  cosas  de  que  Jorp;c  Fitzwilliam   ha  de  traor  claridad."     April, 
1571:   MS.  Simnncas.     Kespuesto  a  los  Articulos:  -l/S.  Ibid. 

2  Jane  Dormer,  one  of  Queen  Mary's  maids  of  honour. 


264  History  of  England.  [Ch.  xxt. 

duced  to  her  ;  and  with  these,  and  with  the  informa- 
tion at  least  that  the  King  of  Spain  was  wilhng  to 
encourage  the  desertion  of  the  fleet,  he  returned  to 
England  a  little  hefore  Sir  Henry  Cobham.  He  had 
gone  over  merely  to  dupe  Philip  into  letting  go  the 
prisoners.  Before  he  came  back  the  arrest  and  ex- 
amination of  Charles  Baily  had  sharpened  Cecil's  sus- 
picions, and  more  might  now  be  made  of  the  original 
purpose  of  the  deception.  If  followed  up,  it  might 
lead  either  to  Hawkins  beino-  admitted  into  the  whole 
secret  of  the  conspiracy  ;  or,  if  the  trick  was  discov- 
ered, he  would  at  the  worst  discredit  other  overtures 
from  English  disloyalty,  and  make  Philip  doubt  whether 
it  was  not  all  treachery  together.  Thus  it  was  decided 
to  go  on.  Hawkins  was  bent  on  recovering  his  friends, 
and  Cecil  on  discovering  the  mystery  of  which  Baily 
had  revealed  the  existence,  but  had  left  but  half  ex- 
plained. The  important  thing  was  now  to  obtain  the 
letter  of  introduction  from  the  Queen  of  Scots. 

In  this  there  was  an  unexpected  difficulty.  Fitz- 
william  went  down  to  Sheffield  to  deliver  the  packets 
from  the  Duke  of  Feria.  The  Queen  of  Scots  had 
been  kept  close  prisoner  since  the  confession  of  Charles 
Baily,  and  Shrewsbury  had  been  commanded  to  allow 
no  one  to  have  access  to  her,  except  with  an  order  from 
the  Government.  It  was  not  safe  to  admit  Shrews- 
bury into  the  secret  of  Hawkins's  treachery,  and  un- 
less Fitzwilliam  could  sustain  his  character  of  a  honci- 
ficle  Catholic  conspirator,  the  Queen  of  Scots  would  be 
on  her  guard. 

Hawkins  consulted  Cecil. ^     The  release  of  the  pris- 

1  "  Your  good  Lordship  may  be  advertised  that  Fitzwilliam  has  been  iu 
the  countn-  to  deliver  his  tokens,  and  to  have  had  some  speech  with  the 
Queen  of  Scots,  which  by  no  means  he  could  obtain.  Wherefore  he  hath 
devised  with  me  that  I  should  make  some  means  to  obtain  him  license  to 


1571.]  The  Reign  of  Elizabeth.  265 

oners,  whicli  was  Hawkins's  principal  object,  was  con- 
sidered   a  sufficient  excuse  to  cover  the  ap- 

.  May. 

plication.  Cecil  wrote  to  Shrewsbury,  saymg 
merely  that  some  poor  friends  of  Fitzwilliam  were  dy- 
ing in  a  Spanish  dungeon,  and  that  a  letter  from  the 
Queen  of  Scots  might  induce  Philip  to  let  them  go. 
Fitzwilliam  was  then  admitted  to  a  private  audience. 
He  delivered  the  letters  from  the  Ferias,  and  the  Queen 
of  Scots,  little  dreamino;  that  she  was  being 

.  ^  .  °        June. 

made  the  instrument  of  a  plot  by  which  her 
own  hopes  were  to  be  destroyed,  said  good-naturedly 
"  that  she  must  pity  prisoners  for  she  was  used  as  one 
herself,  and  that  she  would  do  any  pleasure  she  could 
to  relieve  an  Eno;lishman."  ^ 

Suspecting  no  treachery  in  a  friend  of  the  Duchess 
of  Feria,  Mary  Stuart  talked  with  much  unreserve  to 
Fitzwilliam.  Fitzwilliam  told  her  about  Hawkins  and 
his  offer  to  the  King  of  Spain,  and  she,  on  her  part, 
wrote  to  Philip  at  once  in  his  favour.  Don  Guerau 
was  delighted  at  so  important  an  acquisition  to  the 
Catholic  cause,  and  told  the  King  that  he  might  expect 
service  from  Hawkins  of  infinite  value,^  while  Hawkins 

have  access  to  her  for  her  letters  to  the  King  of  Spain  for  the  better  obtain- 
ing of  our  men's  liberty,  which  otherwise  are  not  to  be  released;  which 
device  I  promised  him  that  I  would  follow,  and  that  if  it  shall  seem  good 
unto  your  Lordship  he  may  be  recommended  by  such  credit  as  to  your 
Lordship  shall  seem  best;  for  unless  she  be  first  spoken  with  and  an  answer 
frou)  her  sent  to  Spain,  the  credit  for  the  treasure  cannot  be  obtained.  If 
your  Lordship  think  meet  that  Fitzwilliam  shall  be  recommended  to  speak 
with  her,  if  I  may  know  by  what  sort  j'our  Lordship  will  appoint,  there 
shall  be  ail  diligence  for  his  despatch  used,  and  hereof  I  humbly  pray  your 
Lordship's  speedy  resolution. 

"  Your  good  Lordship's  mosthumblj'  to  command, 

"  John  Hawkins. 
"  The  Right  Honble  the  Lord  Burghley,"  May  1.3.  —  MBS.  Queen  of  Scots, 
Bolls  Ifotise. 

1  Shrewsbury  to  Cecil,  .Tunc  3:  AfSS.  Queen  of  Scots. 

2  Don  Guerau  to  Philip,  .June  15 :  MS.  Simancas. 


266  EiBtory  of  England.  [Ch.  xxi. 

sent  the  Queen  of  Scots'  letters  to  Cecil  to  be  examined, 
^vith  a  list  of  the  presents  which  in  her  innocence  she 
had  trusted  to  the  false  hands  of  Fitzwilliam  for  her 
Spanish  friends,^  and  enquired  whether  it  was  Eliza- 
beth's pleasure  that  he  should  pursue  the  game  further. 
If  it  was  thought  good  by  her  iSIajesty  that  he  should 
proceed,  there  was  no  doubt,  he  said,  but  various  com- 
modities would  follow  :  —  "  The  practice  of  the  enemy 
would  be  daily  more  and  more  discovered  ;  there  would 
be  credit  gotten  for  a  good  sum  of  money  ;  the  same 
money,  as  the  time  should  bring  forth  cause,  should  be 
employed  to  their  own  detriment ;  and  the  ships  which 
should  be  appointed  as  they  would  suppose  to  serve 
their  own  turn  might  do  some  notable  exploit  to 
their  great  damage."  ^ 

No  very  creditable  correspondence,  on  the  face  of  it, 
between  Elizabeth's  greatest  minister  and  England's 
ablest  seaman  :  the  Queen  of  Scots  was  being  betrayed 
through  her  good  nature,  and  Philip  was  to  be  duped 
into  dependence  upon  a  pretending  traitor,  and  to  be 
relieved  at  all  events  "  of  a  good  sum  of  money  "  by  a 
process  which  resembled  swindling.  Hawkins  doubt- 
less took  a  keener  interest  than  Cecil  in  the  money 
part  of  the  transaction.  He  maintained  that  the  King 
of  Spain  was  in  his  debt  to  the  full  value  of  the  ships 
and  property  which  had  been  destroyed  in  Mexico,  and 
that  he  was  doing  no  more  than  recover  what  justly 

1  "Fitzwilliam  is  returned  and  hath  letters  from  the  Queen  of  Scots  to 
the  King  of  Spain,  which  are  enclosed  with  others  in  a  parcel  directed  to 
j-our  Lordship.  He  hath  also  a  book  sent  from  her  to  the  Duchess  of  Feria 
■with  the  old  service  in  Latin;  and  in  the  end  hath  written  this  word  with 
her  own  hand :  — 

" '  Absit  nobis  gloriari  nisi  in  cruce  Domini  nostri  Jesu  Christi. 

" '  Maria  R.'  " 
—  Hawkins  to  Burghley,  June  7:  MSS.  Queen  of  Scots. 

2  Ibid. 


1571.]  Tlie  Reign  of  Elizabeth  207 

belonged  to  him.  Cecil  was  soiling  his  hands  for  no 
such  sordid  purpose.  He  was  in  search  of  secrets  of 
state  of  tremendous  moment,  and  treachery  in  extreme 
exigencies  becomes  but  the  leghimate  feint  of  a  general 
in  the  presence  of  the  enemy.  Fitzwilliam  returned  to 
Madrid  with  as  little  delay  as  possible.  He  found  the 
Kino-  in  the  credulous  flush  of  excitement  which  fol- 
lowed  the  resolution  of  the  Cabinet  on  the  7th  of 
July,  The  murder  of  Elizabeth  had  been  decided 
upon,  the  instrument  chosen  and  sent  upon  his  errand. 
England  was  to  be  recovered  to  the  Cliurch  and  the 
penitent  Hawkins  was  accepted  as  the  first  fruit  of  the 
national  conversion.  The  letters  of  the  Queen  of  Scots 
removed  every  doubt  that  remained.  The  sailor  cap- 
tives were  set  at  hberty  and  sent  back  to  their  country 
each  with  ten  dollars  in  his  pocket  to  atone  for  his  suf- 
ferings.    Fitzwilliam  was    introduced  to  the 

o  ,  .  ,         August. 

Cabinet,  and  explained  at  length  his  master  s 
views.  Sir  John  Hawkins,  he  said,  was  struck  with 
horror  at  the  condition  to  which  his  country  was  re- 
duced. Heresy  and  tyranny  were  alone  dominant 
there  in  frightful  combination,  and  the  Queen  of  Scots 
was  the  only  hope  that  good  men  saw  remaining.  She 
had  so  many  friends  that  if  the  King  of  Spain  would 
but  say  the  word  the  work  of  raising  her  to  the  throne 
could  be  done  with  ease  and  safety.  Sir  John  liimself 
had  but  to  sail  up  the  Humber  with  half-a-dozen  ships, 
land  the  crews  and  proclaim  her  Queen,  and  the  whole 
nation  would  declare  for  her. 

Marv  Stuart  in  her  letter  to  Philii)  had  said,  after 
all,  less  than  Hawkins  wished,  and  had  confined  her- 
self to  generalities.  Fitzwilliam  explained  her  reserve 
by  saying  that  lie  hud  himself  seen  and  spoken  with 
her,  and  she  had  told  liini  to  say  that  her  correspond- 


268  History  of  England.  [Ch.  xxi. 

ence  was  watched  and  that  she  dared  not  write  more 
than  a  few  words.  Hawkms  himself,  however,  Fitz- 
wilham  stated,  had  16  vessels,  1600  men,  and  400 
guns,  all  at  his  Majesty's  disposition,  ready  to  go  any- 
where and  do  anything  which  his  Majesty  might  com- 
mand so  as  it  was  in  the  Queen  of  Scots'  service.  For 
himself  Sir  John  asked  for  nothing  save  pardon  for  the 
sins  which  he  had  committed  in  the  Indies.  He  would 
cover  the  preparation  of  his  ships  by  pretending  that 
he  was  going  to  serve  with  Count  Louis  in  an  expedi- 
tion against  the  Spanish  coast.  The  Queen  would  give 
him  leave  and  would  fall  into  her  own  pit.  He  desired 
only  to  have  the  fleet  in  a  condition  to  do  his  Majesty 
royal  service.  In  this  he  was  obliged  to  throw  him- 
self on  his  Majesty's  liberality,  and  he  requested  his 
Majesty  also  to  advance  him  two  months'  wages  for 
1600  men. 

The  proposal  seemed  so  liberal  that  Philip  forgot  his 
caution  and  dropped  his  reserve.  He  had  still  pru- 
dence enough  to  conceal  the  correspondence  with  Nor- 
folk, Chapin's  mission,  and  the  intended  assassination  ; 
but  Fitzwilliam  was  allowed  to  know  that  England  was 
really  to  be  invaded,  and  that  the  blow  was  to  be  struck, 
if  possible,  at  the  end  of  the  summer.  Indentures 
were  drawn  at  the  Escurial,  and  were  signed  by  Fitz- 
william for  Hawkins,  and  by  the  Duke  of  Feria  —  just 
before  his  death  — for  Spain.  Hawkins  bound  himself 
to  have  his  fleet  at  sea,  to  be  at  the  disposition  of  the 
Duke  of  Alva,  in  September  and  October.  Philip 
consented  to  advance  the  necessary  moneys,  and  being 
in  a  generous  mood,  expressed  a  hope  that  in  the  event 
of  success  Sir  John  and  his  friends  would  accept,  in 
addition,  something  handsome  for  themselves.  The 
pardon    for   the    misdoings  in  the    Spanish  main  was 


1571.]  The  Reign  of  Elizabetli.  269 

drawn  out  in  full,  with  an  assurance  that  if  the  expedi- 
tion failed,  they  should  be  sure  of  employment  in  the 
Spanish  service.^ 

This  prodigious  "  practice "  was  thus  entirely  suc- 
cessful. The  English  Government  learnt  the  particu- 
lars of  the  danger  which  lay  before  them  and  were 
able  to  prepare  for  it  —  prepare  for  it  in  part  with 
finances  furnished  by  Philip  himself;  Hawkins  held 
himself  in  readiness  to  join  Alva  as  soon  as  he  should 
sail,  intending  to  sink  him  in  mid-channel.  Philip 
paid  tlie  money  for  which  Fitzwilliam  asked,  some  forty 
or  fifty  thousand  pounds,  through  his  agents  in  Eng- 
land. He  made  Hawkins  himself  a  grandee  of  Spain, 
and  sent  him,  through  Fitzwilliam's  hands,  his  patent 
of  nobility. 

One  more  communication  from  Sir  John  to 

r^       .^  -111  •  1  11     September. 

Cecil  contauis  all   that  requires   to   be   told 
further. 

SIR  JOHN  HAWKINS  TO  LORD  BURGHLEY. 

"  Plymouth,  September  4. 

"  My  very  good  Lord,  —  It  may  please  your  Hon- 
our to  be  advertised  that  Fitzwilliam  is  returned  from 
the  Court  of  S])ain,  where  his  message  was  acceptably 
received  both  by  the  King  himself,  the  Duke  of  Feria, 
and  others  of  the  Privy  Council.  His  dispatch  and  an- 
swer was  with  great  expedition,  and  great  countenance 
and  favour  of  the  King.  The  Articles  are  sent  to  tiie 
Ambassador,  with  orders,  also,  for  the  money  to  be  paid 
to  me  by  him,  for  the  enterprise  to  proceed  with  all 

1  The  documents  relating  to  these  negotiations  are  very  numerous,  and 
with  the  exception  of  the  letters  which  passed  between  Hawkins  and 
Burghley,  are  all  at  Simancas.  The  Spanish  historians,  kudwing  only 
their  own  archives,  have  supposed  that  Hawkins  was  really  acting  in  good 
faith  witii  riiilip.  The  King  did  not  care  to  leave  on  record  an  account  of 
the  trick  by  whidi  he  had  been  taken  in. 


270  History  of  England.  [Cn.  xxi. 

diligence.  Their  pretence  is,  that  mj  powers  sliould 
join  with  the  Duke  of  Alva's  powers,  which  he  doth 
secretly  provide  in  Flanders,  as  well  as  with  the  pow- 
ers which  Cometh  with  the  Duke  of  Medina  out  of 
Spain,  and  so  altogether  to  invade  this  realm  and  set 
up  the  Queen  of  Scots.  They  have  practised  with  us 
for  the  burning  of  her  Majesty's  ships,  therefore  there 
would  be  some  good  care  had  of  them,  but  not  as  it 
may  appear  that  anything  is  discovered  —  as  your 
Lordship's  consideration  can  well  provide. 

"  The  King  hath  sent  a  ruby  of  good  price  to  the 
Queen  of  Scots,  with  letters  also,  which  in  my  judg- 
ment were  good  to  be  delivered.  The  letters  be  of  no 
importance,  but  his  message  by  word  is  to  comfort  her 
and  say  that  he  hath  now  none  other  care  but  to  place 
her  in  her  own.  It  were  good,  also,  that  the  Ambas- 
sador did  make  a  request  unto  your  Lordship  that 
Fitzwilliam  may  have  access  to  the  Queen  of  Scots,  to 
render  thanks  for  the  delivery  of  the  prisoners  which 
are  now  at  liberty.  It  will  be  a  very  good  colour  for 
your  Lordship  to  confer  with  him  more  largely.  I 
have  sent  your  Lordship  the  copy  of  my  pardon  from 
the  King  of  Spain,  in  the  very  order  and  manner  I 
have  it.  The  Duke  of  Medina  and  the  Duke  of  Alva 
hath  every  of  them  one  of  the  same  pardons  more  am- 
plified to  present  unto  me,  though  this  be  large  enough, 
with  my  great  titles  and  honours  from  the  King,  from 
which  God  deliver  me.  I  send  your  Lordship,  also, 
the  copy  of  my  letter  from  the  Duke  of  Feria,  in  the 
very  manner  as  it  was  written,  with  his  wife's  and 
son's  hand  in  the  end.^  Their  practices  be  very  mis- 
chievous, and  they  be  never  idle,  but  God,  I  hope, 
will  confound  them,  and  turn  their  devices  upon  their 

1  Not  found. 


1571.1  Tlie  Beign  of  Elizaheth.  271 

own  necks.  I  will  put  my  business  in  some  order,  and 
give  my  attendance  upon  her  jNIajest^^,  to  do  her  that 
service  that  by  your  Lordship  shall  be  thought  most 
convenient  in  this  case.  I  am  not  tedious  with  your 
Lordship,  because  Fitzwilliam  cometh  himself,  and  I 
mind  not  to  be  long  after  him,  and  thus  I  trouble  your 
Lordship  no  further. 

"  Your  Lordship's  most  faithfully  to  my  power, 

"  John  Hawkins."  ^ 

The  letter  came  opportunely,  for  Cecil,  as  will  pres- 
ently be  seen,  had  by  this  time  the  few  remaining 
threads  in  his  hand  which  would  ravel  out  the  whole 
conspiracy.  Very  hateful  such  proceedings  may  seem 
to  some  readers,  as  if  it  were  better  that  a  Govern- 
ment should  perish  than  to  be  driven  to  maintain  itself 
by  treachery.  Elizabeth  won  the  game,  and  therefore 
the  faults  on  her  side  appear  gratuitously  wicked.  We 
fancy  that  she  might  have  succeeded  as  easily  by  fairer 
means,  while  the  like  doings  on  the  other  side  are 
passed  over  in  a  general  sentiment  of  compassion  for 
the  losing  cause.  Yet  treachery  was  but  meeting 
treachery.  The  Queen  of  Scots,  on  the  whole,  held 
better  cards  than  Elizabeth  ;  and  but  for  Cecil,  the 
Queen  of  Scots  would  probably  have  won,  and  Chapin's 
poniard  and  Alva's  legions  might  have  given  another 
complexion  to  English  history.  The  Queen  of  Scots' 
iniquities  would  then  have  stood  out  in  the  relief  of 
success.  The  pity  would  have  been  for  Elizabeth,  the 
mt>ral  censure  fur  her  more  lucky  rival.  Li  this  and 
all  such  conditions,  our  praise  and  our  blame  are  alike 
impertinent,  for  it  is  impossible  to  apportion  them 
fairly.     The  rules  which  insist  on  truth  and  candour 

1  Domestic  MSS.,  Rolls  House. 


272  History  of  England.  [Ch.  xxr. 

between  man  and  man  and  Government  and  Govern- 
ment, apply  only  to  quiet,  or  at  least  to  honourable 
ages.  Wars  and  treasons  and  conspiracies  derange  the 
natural  relation  of  things,  and  bring  about  situations 
w^here  other  balances  are  required.  The  baser  crimes 
which  spring  from  selfishness  and  cowardice  are  hide- 
ous in  every  time  and  place  :  but  Hamlet  is  not  con- 
demned for  rewriting  his  uncle's  packet,  because  Shak- 
speare,  in  the  fulness  of  genius,  places  the  facts  before 
us  with  all  their  surroundings.  Let  the  reader  exert 
his  imagination  to  call  up  before  him  the  situation  of 
Elizabeth  and  her  Minister,  and  he  will  be  sparing  of 
his  outcries  in  proportion  to  the  vigour  of  his  thought. 

The  anticipation  that  the  year  1571  would  prove  a 
critical  one  in  the  fortunes  of  England  was  entirely 
verified.  The  Ridolfi  conspiracy  was  the  last  com- 
bined effort  of  the  English  aristocracy  to  undo  the 
Reformation  and  strangle  the  new  order  of  things  be- 
fore  it  grew  too  strong  for  them.  The  exigencies  of 
history  compel  us  to  follow  in  single  lines  the  many 
threads  of  which  the  situation  was  made  up.  London, 
Paris,  Brussels,  Rome,  Madrid  —  we  have  had  to  trans- 
port ourselves  from  one  to  the  other,  while  at  each 
and  all,  at  the  same  time,  the  warp  and  the  woof  of 
Elizabeth's  destiny  were  forming.  We  have  watched 
the  English  Parliament  at  home  labouring  for  the  cause 
of  God  and  freedom.  We  have  seen  Philip's  Cabinet 
planning  murder,  in  the  cause  also,  as  they  believed, 
of  God  and  Holy  Church  ;  while  Cecil  and  Walsing- 
ham  were  struggling  desperately  to  bind  England  and 
France  together,  and  the  Queen  was  choosing  the  edge 
of  the  precipice  to  execute  her  matrimonial  coquet 
dance.  Dungeons  have  been  thrown  open,  where 
wretched  prisoners  were  yielding  their  secrets  to  the 


1571.]  The  Reign  of  Elizabeth.  273 

rack,^  or  cheated  out  of  them  by  the  midnight  visits  of 
pretended  friends.  And,  last  of  all,  we  have  seen  the 
Catholic  Kino;  and  his  Council  of  State  becomino;  the 
dupes  of  a  buccaneering  adventurer.  All  these  scenes 
were  going  on  together ;  while  Cecil  had  his  eyes 
everywhere,  conscious  or  unconscious  that  on  him,  and 
on  what  he  could  do,  the  fate  of  England  and  its 
Queen  depended. 

It  remains  to  observe,  during  the  same  months,  the 
fortunes  of  the  two  parties  which  divided  Scotland. 
On  the  foil  of  Dumbarton  and  the  ineffectual  close  of 
the  London  Conference,  the  civil  war  broke  again  into 
a  blaze.  War,  in  a  large  sense,  it  could  not  be  called, 
but  a  general  breaking  down  of  all  order  and  authority, 
the  parties  which  respectively  called  themselves  sub- 
jects of  the  King  or  Queen  flying  at  each  other's 
throats,  burning  each  other's  houses,  and  indulging, 
under  the  pretence  of  loyalty,  their  private  hates  and 
feuds.  Neither  France  nor  England  could  openly  in- 
terfere. The  marriage  project  made  them  unwilling 
to  quarrel  ;  and  till  that  marriage  was  accomplished, 
they  were  equally  unable  to  act  in  concert.  At  the 
same  time,  neither  cared  to  desert  their  friends  en- 
tirely ;  and  thus  both  sides  were  encouraged  with 
promises  and  fed  with  money.  King's  party  and 
Queen's  party  were  called  to  the  field,  and  one  could 
not  overwhelm  the  other  ;  and  the  hopeless  struggle 
was  varied  only  by  some  gallant  achievement  like  the 
stormino;  of  Dumbarton.     Had  Ehzabeth  resolved  from 


» 


1  Charles  Baily  was  not  the  only  sufferer.  Hall,  Sir  Thomas  Stanley's 
friend,  who  was  taken  at  Dumbarton,  was  made  to  tell  what  he  knew  by 
the  same  means.  The  Queen  and  Cecil  ordered  Sir  William  Drury  to  sub- 
mit a  series  of  questions  to  him,  adding,  "  Let  him  look  to  be  racked  to  all 
extremity  if  he  will  conceal  the  truth."  —  Elizabeth  to  Sir  William  Drury, 
May  20,  Cecil's  hand:  MSS.  Scoikind. 

VOL.    X.  18 


274  History  of  England.  [Ch,  xxi. 

the  beginning,  as  she  had  now  resolved  at  last,  to  keep 
Mary  Stuart  prisoner  —  had  she  supported  Murray  — 
had  she  allowed  Sussex  to  take  Edinburgh  Castle  — 
still  more,  had  she  recognised  James  not  only  as  King 
in  his  own  country,  but  as  her  own  prospective  heir  — 
she  would  have  added  nothing  to  the  danger  of  her 
position  with  the  European  Powers,  and  the  peace  of 
Scotland  would  never  have  been  disturbed.  The  set- 
tlement in  James's  favour  was  the  one  step  which,  be- 
yond question,  she  ought  to  have  taken,  and  which  she 
only  did  not  take  from  the  peculiar  perversity  of  tem- 
perament which  never  would  allow  her  to  move  di- 
rectly and  openly  towards  any  object,  however  excel- 
lent, however  just,  however  expedient. 

She  had  played  fast  and  loose  so  often  with  the  Prot- 
estants that,  but  for  the  interest  of  their  common  re- 
ligion, they  would  long  ago  have  fallen  off"  from  her. 
As  it  was,  the  position  of  parties  was  briefly  this.  The 
Regent,  supported  by  Mar  and  Morton,  held  Stirling, 
Glasgow,  and  Dumbarton.  The  Laird  of  Grange  and 
Maitland  were  in  Edinburgh  Castle,  where,  after  the 
execution  of  the  Archbishop  of  St.  Andrew's,  they  were 
joined  in  force  by  the  Hamiltons,  with  Buccleuch, 
Fernihurst,  and  Lord  Hume,  and  then  took  possession 
of  the  town.  The  North  and  West,  with  the  Gordons, 
Argyle,  and  Athol,  were  for  the  Queen.  From  Stir- 
ling to  St.  Andrew's,  and  south  till  within  thirty  miles 
of  the  Border,  the  farmers  and  peasants  were  mainly 
Protestants.  The  French  were  more  liberal  of  money 
than  Elizabeth.  EUzabeth  reluctantly  doled  out  a 
thousand  pounds  to  the  Regent  on  a  single  occasion. 
Mary  Stuart's  dowry  was  regularly  paid  to  the  other 
side,  with  four  thousand  crowns  a-month  in  addition 
from  Charles  and  Catherine. 


1571.]  Tlie  Reign  of  Elizabeth.  275 

So  matters  stood  on  the  arrest  of  Charles  Baily  and 
the  partial  discovery  of  Ridolfi's  plot.  Elizabeth,  as 
usual,  was  roused  for  a  time  into  resolution.  Drury 
was  sent  to  Edinburgh  to  remonstrate  with  Grange  and 
Maitland  "  for  occupying  the  city  in  warlike  manner," 
and  to  inform  them  that  if  he  or  his  party  "  brought 
in  strangers,"  "  the  Queen  would  avenge  their  obsti- 
nacy  against  the  common  peace."  Cannon  were  pre- 
pared in  Berwick,  and  an  expeditionary  force  was  or- 
ganised and  put  in  marching  order  for  the  reduction  of 
Edinburgh  Castle.^ 

So  obviously  necessary,  if  Elizabeth's  throne  was  to 
be  preserved,  was  the  reduction  of  Scotland  under  the 
Regent's  authority,  that  Mary  Stuart's  party  were  un- 
able to  believe  that  decisive  measures  could  be  longer 
postponed.  Lord  Seton  flew  to  Paris  to  entreat  assist- 
ance It  was  at  the  moment  when  the  Queen  Mother 
was  most  sanguine  about  the  English  marriage,  and 
the  application  was  especially  unwelcome.  Seton  said 
that  he  hoped  that  in  the  midst  of  her  new  schemes 
she  would  not  forget  her  old  friends.  He  reminded 
her  of  the  many  gallant  Scots  who  "  had  offered  them- 
selves for  the  country  of  France  and  had  left  their 
'  banes  '  behind  them  there."  Catherine  gave  but 
cold  answers.  The  Archbishop  of  Glasgow  stood  sadly 
by,  but  did  not  speak  a  word. 

"  Madam,"  said  the  old  lord  passionately,  "  I  must 
speak  two  words  to  you,  and  pray  you  to  receive  them 
as  coming  out  of  a  true  French  heart.  Madam,  since 
Charlemagne's  time  there  was  never  sent  from  Scot- 
land, by  King,  Queen,  or  nobility,  a  more  honourable 
suit  than  is  desired  at  the  present  by  me  ;  and  seeing 
that  this  vain  opinion  of  the  Queen  of  England's  mar- 
1  Elizabeth  to  Sir  William  Drury,  May  20:  MSB.  Scotland. 


276  History  of  England.  [Ch.  xxi, 

riage  is  so  had  in  conceit  of  you  that  ye  heed  not  us 
who  are  invaded  with  fire  and  sword  and  our  castles 
and  houses  demohshed,  as  I  have  shown  you  before, 
the  nobihty  of  Scotland  will  not  fail  to  sue  where  they 
may  best."  ^ 

Loi'd  Seton  fell  back  on  Brussels.  The  friends  of 
Mary  Stuart  in  Scotland  followed  the  lead  of  the  Eng- 
lish Lords,  and,  deserted  by  France,  flung  themselves 
upon  Alva  and  Spain,  and  the  coldness  of  the  French 
Court  gave  fresh  facilities  for  the  organisation  of  the 
intended  invasion.  Should  accident  prevent  a  landing 
at  Harwich,  the  coast  of  Aberdeen  was  close  at  hand 
and  always  open,  and  the  presence  of  a  Spanish  army 
in  the  island  was  all  that  was  needed  to  call  the  Cath- 
ohcs  to  the  field. 

Meanwhile,  till  the  Spaniards  were  ready  it  was 
necessary  to  keep  Elizabeth  in  play,  and  to  prevent  her 
from  executing  her  threat  of  reducing  the  Castle  of 
Edinburgh.  Her  determined  moods  seldom  lasted 
more  than  a  few  days,  and  Maitland's  pen  was  called 
into  requisition  to  soothe  her  into  a  false  security. 

Maitland  had  a  singular  influence  over  Elizabeth. 
She  corresponded  with  him  in  private,  and  while  Cecil 
was  threatening  him  in  her  name,  she  was  herself  un- 
saying Cecil's  language  behind  the  scenes.  Whatever 
may  have  been  her  secret  purpose  in  so  doing,  she  al- 
lowed him  to  see  that  she  did  not  desire  to  interfere  if 
she  could  help  it,  and  that  she  would  welcome  any 
opening  which  he  could  make  for  her  to  escape  fi'om 
the  necessity  which  was  being  forced  upon  her.  Mait- 
land believed  her  incapable,  through  her  vacillation,  of 
any  consistent  policy.  He  despised  her  and  played  upon 
her  weakness.  When  he  received  Drury's  message, 
1  Seton  to  Maitland,  May  31:  MSS.  Scotland. 


1571.]  Tlie  Reign  of  Elizabeth.  277 

and  heard  of  the  preparations  at  Berwick,   he  wrote 
to  remind  her   "  how  often  she   had  urged 

May. 

him  to   remain  faithful   to   his  own  Queen, 
how  at  times  she  had  reproached  him  for  his  seeming 
want  of  duty,  how  incredible  it  appeared  to  him  that 
she  should  now  take  his  fidelity  to    his  mistress   un- 
kindly.    He  could  not  and  would  not  acknowledge  the 
Regency  of  Lennox.     His  property  had  been  confis- 
cated.    He  and  many  other  noblemen  had  been  de- 
clared outlaws.     The   King,  when  he  took  on  him  the 
administration,  would  find  no  kingdom  apt    for  rule, 
but  a  confused  chaos,  where  within  short   time  there 
would  start  up  two  or  three   hundred  resembling  Shan 
O'Neil,  whereof  every  one  would  be  king  in  his  own 
bounds  or  within  ten  miles'  compass.     Neither  he  nor 
his  friends  would  permit  five  or  six  earls  and  lords,  not 
of  the  greatest  degree,  to  make  .slaves  of  all  who  would 
not  serve  their  turn  ;  and  for  himself,  he  had  not  been 
accustomed  to  misery,  and  would  find  it  strange  to  be 
driven  to  live  on  other  men's  charity.     This,  however, 
he  was  ready  to  do.     He  would  use  his  credit  to  pro- 
cure a  reasonable  union  of  all  the  states  of  the  realm 
to  maintain  peace  with  England.     He  would  procure 
that  her  Majesty  should  be  put  in    trust  to    make  a 
final  end  of  all  controversies  and  be  moderatrix  in  all 
their  debates  ;  this  point  only  reserved,  that  she  would 
so  deal  with  the  Queen  of  Scots  that  he  and  his  friends 
might  not  be  condemned  of  having  dealt  unchitilully 
with  their  sovereign,  to  whom  he  for  his  own  part  was 
particularly  bound  for  benefits  received,  and  had  made 
promises  which  in  honour  he  might  not  break."  ^ 

The   intention    of  this   letter  was  to  gain    time  till 
Alva  could  land,  the  Catholics  rise,  and  Elizabeth  and 

1  Maitland  to  Elizabeth,  May  30:  MSS.  Scotland. 


278  Eistory  of  England.  [Ch.  xxi. 

the  Queen  of  Scots  change  places.  Mary  Stuart  and 
the  Bishop  of  Ross  had  admitted,  in  explanation  of 
Charles  Baily's  confession,  that  the  Spaniards  had  been 
invited  into  Scotland.  It  was  more  than  ever  essential 
to  put  down  the  party  which  would  open  their  ports  to 
receive  them.  But  Maitland's  words  chimed  in  exactly 
with  Elizabeth's  detestation  of  resolute  action.  She 
underlined  particular  expressions  in  the  letter  with 
marks  of  her  approval,  and  Drury  was  again  ordered 
up  to  Edinburgh  and  Stirling,  to  say  that  force,  after 
all,  was  not  to  be  used  ;  a  commission  should  sit  again 
in  London  to  arrange  a  compromise. 

The  Queen's  friends  had  as  much  intention  of  sub- 
mitting to  Elizabeth  as  of  accepting  the  Archbishop  of 
Canterbury  for  their  Metropolitan.  When  Drury  came 
to  Edinburgh,  he  found  Chatelherault  holding  a  Parlia- 
ment in  the  Tolbooth  to  reinstate  Mary  Stu- 
art "  as  only  lawful  sovereign  of  Scotland." 
Making  a  mild  protest  —  all  that  he  was  now  allowed 
to  make  —  he  went  on  to  the  Lords  at  Stirling,  where 
his  appearance  was  the  signal  for  a  burst  of  execrations. 
"  Among  the  hot  bloods  of  the  young  men  "  he  was 
"  in  danger  of  his  life  ;  "  "  shot  at  divers  times  ;  " 
dreaded  by  the  Regent  as  the  minister  of  that  uncertain 
action  which  had  caused  all  the  existino;  miserv,  hated 
and  cursed  as  "  a  false  treacherous  Saxon."  The 
Lords  had  hoped  that  at  last  Elizabeth  must  declare 
decisively  for  them.  If  they  waited  till  Alva  landed 
they  were  lost,  and  the  first  impulse  was  to  throw  up 
forever  the  service  of  a  mistress  who  never  for  two 
days  together  remained  in  one  mind,  and  make  terms 
with  their  enemies  at  Edinburgh.  The  Regent,  old, 
infirm,  and  over-influenced  by  Lennox  partisanship, 
had  grown  unpopular  with  his  own  party,  and  Drury 


iii7i.]  The  Reign  of  Elizabeth.  279 

feared  that  he  would  soon  be  sent  the  way  of  his  son. 
Maitland  had  been  making  overtures  to  Morton,  to 
which  Morton  was  supposed  to  be  hstening.  '•'  The 
Castihans,"  as  the  Queen's  faction  was  called,  were 
supported  with  money  from  France  and  Flanders. 
The  Regent,  to  maintain  a  force,  was  driven  to  disti'ain 
still  upon  the  few  noblemen  who  adhered  to  the  King. 
The  situation  could  not  be  prolonged  under  such  con- 
ditions. On  the  14th  of  July  Drury  reported  to  Cecil 
that,  unless  her  Majesty  could  make  up  her  mind  at 
once  what  she  meant  to  do,  "  both  parties  were  deter- 
mined to  agree  among  themselves,  the  same  being 
already  in  hand."  ^  Had  the  Queen  of  Eng- 
land been  liberal  with  money,  the  Regency 
might  have  continued  ;  but  with  ample  supplies  on  one 
side  and  on  the  other  only  contradictory  advice  and 
perpetual  vacillation,  the  Lords  who  had  stood  for  the 
King  could  no  longer  persevere  in  so  thankless  and 
dangerous  a  course.  Even  Elizabeth's  own  people 
could  not  be  paid  their  own  justly  earned  w^ages. 
Drury  complained  that  he  had  himself  incurred  such 
expenses  in  her  Majesty's  service  that  he  was  weighed 
down  with  debt.^ 

In  the  midst  of  these  distractions,  and  immediately 
arising  out  of  them,  a  third  party  now  appeared,  which, 
though  unfavourable  to  Mary  Stuart  and  scarcely  less 
so  to  Elizabeth,  seemed  likely  for  a  time  to  obtain  the 
control  of  Scotch  policy.  It  was  the  misfortune  of  the 
Queen  of  Scots  that  she  was  unable  to  apply  for  help 
to  one  of  the  great  Powers  without  offending  the 
friends  of  the  other.  Out  of  the  large  body  of  noble- 
men who  had  hitherto  supported  her,  the  Protestant 
section  disapproved  entirely  of  the  new  connexion  with 
1  Drury  to  Cecil,  July  14:  MSS.  Scotland.  2  ibij. 


280  History  of  England.  [Ch.  xxi. 

Spain.  They  remained  true  to  their  French  sympa- 
thies ;  and  the  change  of  pohcy  at  Paris,  the  reviving 
influence  of  the  Huguenots,  and  the  hberahsing  ten- 
dencies of  the  King,  produced  a  corresponding  effect 
upon  his  friends  in  Scotland.  As  the  Guises  lost  their 
ascendancy  the  French  Court  became  again  indifferent 
to  Mary  Stuart,  and  was  as  willing  as  it  had  been  four 
years  before  to  support  the  King  if  it  could  win  back 
the  Scotch  alliance.  If  the  Anjou  marriage  had  come 
off,  France  and  England,  and  the  Scotch  friends  of 
both,  would  work  together.  If  the  marriage  failed, 
France  would  not  allow  Scotland  to  become  Spanish  ; 
and  if  Mary  Stuart  flung  herself  on  Philip,  for  their 
own  sakes  they  were  forced  to  take  up  the  cause  of  her 
son.  In  the  universal  uncertainty  no  definite  resolution 
was  possible  ;  but  M.  de  Virac  was  sent  back  with 
large  discretionary  powers ;  and  thus  through  the  sum- 
mer months  there  followed  a  series  of  intrigues  and 
counter-intrigues,  the  principles  of  which  are  gener- 
ally intelligible  but  the  details  utterly  confounding. 
This  only  is  clear,  that  all  alike  were  bidding 
for  popularity  by  appealing  to  the  national 
sentiment,  swearing  "  that  Scots  would  never  thrall 
their  land  to  Enoland.  The  Kino;  of  France,  if  he 
would,  should  be  judge  in  all  their  differences."  ^  The 
nobler  element  in  Scottish  life  was  for  a  time  in  abey- 
ance. Knox  had  withdrawn  from  Edinburgh  to  St. 
Andrew's.  The  reforming  noblemen  were  divided  and 
disheartened.  The  commons  were  lying  in  the  dead 
water  between  the  opposite  tides,  and  for  the  present 
attending  chiefly  to  their  farms  and  their  trades.  At 
length,  towards  the  end  of  August,  things  began  to 
assume  defined  outlines.  Three  parties  had  shaped 
1  John  Case  to  Drury,  August  29 :  MSS.  Scotland. 


1571.1  The  Reign  of  Elizabeth.  281 

themselves  —  French,  Spanish,  and  English.  Chatel- 
herault,  Maitland,  Huntly,  Fernihurst,  Buccleuch  — 
those  who  had  been  most  nearly  connected  with  the 
English  Catholics,  and  were  to  some  extent  in  the  se- 
cret of  their  plans  —  followed  the  main  line  of  the  con- 
spiracy and  remained  in  correspondence  with  Alva. 
Argyle,  Cassilis,  Eglinton,  and  several  others  broke 
away  and  declared  for  the  King  —  for  the  King  and 
France  —  or  for  the  Kino;  and  France  and  Eno-land  — 
as  events  and  as  their  friends  should  direct  them.  They 
came  to  an  understanding  with  the  party  at  Stirling. 
Lennox  for  general  convenience  and  through  Morton's 
interest,  was  to  be  continued  as  Regent.  Elizabeth  had 
bought  Morton's  services,  finding  it  cheaper  to  bribe  a 
sino-le  nobleman  than  maintain  a  Government.^  But 
he  was  to  be  placed  under  restraint,  unable  to 

p        /^  Ml  September. 

act  without  consent  ot  a  Uouncil,  and  gener- 
ally rendered  so  uneasy  in  his  seat  "  that  he  would  be 
glad  to  be  gone."  ^ 

A  great  meeting  of  the  Lords  was  held  at  Stirling, 
to  consider  the  propositions  which  should  be  submitted 
to  Elizabeth.  This  much  only  they  had  at  once  re- 
solved, that  the  Prince  should  in  no  case  be  sent  to 
Eniiland  as  Elizabeth  desired  ;  and  no  rio-ht  whatever 
should  be  recognised  as  existing  in  the  Queen  of  Eng- 
land to  decide  who  should  or  should  not  be  the  Scottish 
sovereign.  The  unfortunate  Lennox  could  but  lament 
to  Cecil  the  indecision  of  his  mistress,  which  liad  thus 
shaken  her  influence  :  was  it  not  for  his  grandson,  he 
said,  no  earthly  interest  should  tempt  him  to  remain  in 

1  Morton  took  her  money  and  professed  to  place  himself  at  Eli/.alx'tli's 
disposition,  "  either  to  use  him  to  quench  the  fire  among  them  or  to  make 
the  flame  break  out  further."  —  Drury  to  Cecil,  August  24:  MSS.  Scot- 
land. 

2  John  Case  to  Drurj',  September  2:  MS.  Ibid. 


282  History  of  England.  [Ch.  xxl 

office  anotlier  day.^  Neglected  in  the  midst  of  the 
crowd,  desolate  and  weeping  with  such  few  friends  as 
privately  came  to  him,  the  father  of  Darnley  sat  wait- 
ing for  the  fate  which  was  coming  upon  him. 

If  threatening  to  England,  the  new  combination  was 
no  less  unfavourable  to  the  projects  of  the  "  Castilians." 
Whether  a  French  faction  or  an  English  faction  gov- 
erned Scotland,  or  both  combined,  there  would  be  an 
equal  difficulty  in  making  arrangements  for  the  landing 
of  the  Spaniards,  or  for  the  march  southwards  to  the 
rescue  of  the  Queen  of  Scots.  In  reply  to  the  Ham- 
iltons'  Parliament  at  the  Tolbooth,  a  rival  meeting 
was  held  at  Stirling,  where  Chatelherault  and  Huntly 
were  attainted,  and  the  assembled  Lords  gave  out  that 
they  meant  to  march  immediately  upon  Edinburgh, 
and  starve  the  castle  into  submission. 

The  Castilians  —  or  rather  Maitland,  for  Maitland 
was  the  inventor  of  the  enterprise  —  proposed  to  an- 
ticipate them.  He  flattered  himself  that  if  he  could 
bring  all  parties  together  with  some  vantage  ground  of 
position  to  himself,  he  could  settle  matters  in  his  own 
way,  and  flatter  the  ambition  of  Scotland  by  a  sketch 
of  the  prospect  which  that  autumn  was  to  open  for  the 
Queen.  His  plan  was  characteristic  both  of  himself 
and  his  countrymen  —  a  companion  enterprise,  though 
far  grander  in  its  aim  and  scope,  to  Crawford's  capture 
of  Dumbarton.  Including  the  Lords,  their  friends, 
and  their  followers,  there  were  at  Stirling,  in  all,  2000 
armed  men.  The  town  as  well  as  the  castle  was  for- 
tified. The  Queen's  party  had  no  kind  of  force  in  the 
field,  and  the  last  thought  which  would  have  occurred 
to  any  one  would  have  been  that  there  was  danger  of 
surprise.     Buccleuch  and  Fernihurst,  with  a  few  score 

1  Lennox  to  Cecil,  August  25 :  MSS.  Scotland. 


1571.]  The  Reign  of  Elizabeth.  283 

Border  troopers,  men  accustomed  to  desperate  adven- 
tures, had  been  for  some  time  at  Edinburgh.  It  was 
given  out  that  they  were  going  back  to  their  own 
country.  Half  a  dozen  of  them  were  sent  forward  to 
Queen's  Ferry  to  keep  the  passage,  and  on  the  even- 
ing of  the  3d  of  September,  the  two  Border  leaders, 
with  Huntly,  Lord  Claud  Hamilton,  and  120  troopers, 
rode  quietly  out  of  the  gate.  They  took  the  Jedworth 
road  to  prevent  suspicion.  Dusk  fell  as  they  cleared 
the  suburbs,  and  they  swept  round  to  the  right,  gal- 
loped rapidly  through  the  darkness,  and  by  three  in 
the  morning  w-ere  within  a  mile  of  Stirling.  Here 
they  dismounted  and  left  their  horses,  "  lest  the  clatter- 
ing of  hoofs  upon  the  paved  road  "  should  be  heard 
by  the  guard.  Stealing  silently  on,  they  crept,  "  by  a 
secret  passage,"  through  the  wall,  and  made  their  Avay 
undiscovered  to  the  market-cross  at  the  head  of  the 
town.  It  was  now  between  four  and  five  in  the  morn- 
ing, and  day  was  breaking.  The  King  was  in  the 
castle  beyond  their  reach,  but  the  noblemen  were 
lodged  in  the  houses  round  the  market-place.  They 
had  exact  information  of  the  place  where  each  of  them 
would  be  found,  and  Lennox,  Argyle,  Glencairn, 
Sutherland,  Cassilis,  and  Eglinton  were  taken  one  by 
one  out  of  their  beds  without  a  blow  beino-  struck. 
They  were  less  successful  with  Morton,  who,  hearing 
the  disturbance,  had  time  to  barricade  his  door,  and 
with  a  party  of  his  servants  held  out  desperately  till 
the  house  was  set  on  fire.  It  was  one  of  those  high, 
narrow  buildings  so  common  in  Scotch  towns.  As 
the  flames  spread  upwards  the  poor  women  and  chil- 
dren in  the  upper  stories  leapt  from  the  windows  and 
were  killed  upon  the  pavement.  At  length  when  the 
roof  began  to  fall    in,  Morton,   singed    and    scorched, 


284  Ei8tory  of  England.  [Ch.  xxi. 

grimed  with    smoke,  and  half  dressed,   came  out  and 
surrendered  to  his  kinsman  Buccleuch. 

So  far  the  success  had  been  brilhant.  The  Regent 
and  the  leading  noblemen  were  prisoners,  and  they  had 
now  only  to  make  off  as  they  had  come,  before  the 
soldiers  in  the  castle  were  roused.  The  fio-htino;  had 
made  hot  blood.  Lord  Claud  Hamilton  owed  Morton 
a  grudge  for  Drury's  invasion,  and  attempted  to  stab 
him ;  and  Buccleuch,  to  save  his  life,  called  off  some 
of  his  men,  and  putting  Morton  in  the  midst  of  them, 
made  his  way  down  the  street  to  the  gate.  The  party, 
which  was  small  already,  was  thus  divided,  and  when 
Huntly  would  have  followed  with  the  rest,  there  was 
a  difficulty  in  collecting  them.  Border  thieves,  if 
useful  in  some  aspects  of  them,  had  their  disadvan- 
tages. A  town  seemingly  at  their  mercy  was  too 
much  for  their  habits  to  resist.  The  stables  were 
filled  with  the  finest  horses  in  Scotland.  The  lives 
of  the  freebooters  of  Hawick  and  Jedburgh  depended 
often  on  the  fleetness  of  their  steeds,  and  such  a  chance 
as  the  present  might  never  return.  Thus  having,  as 
they  supposed,  secured  their  pinsoners,  they  dispersed 
in  search  of  plunder.  Morton's  resistance  had  al- 
ready cost  too  much  time  and  created  too  much  dis- 
turbance. The  recall  bugle  was  sounded  impatiently, 
but  the  men  were  too  busy  to  attend  to  it ;  and  by 
this  time  the  town  was  awake,  the  guard  had  turned 
out  in  the  castle,  and  parties  of  armed  men  came 
streaming  into  the  market-place  from  every  wynd  and 
alley.  Further  delay  was  impossible.  Those  who 
were  left  to  guard  the  prisoners  made  after  Buccleuch 
to  the  gate.  The  prisoners  themselves,  most  of  them 
seeing  their  friends  at  hand,  shook  themselves  easily 
free  ;  and  Buccleuch,  who  was  taking  care  of  Morton's 


1571.]  TJie  Reign  of  Elizabeth.  285 

life,  was  obliged  in  turn  to  surrender.  Lennox  was  less 
fortunate.  He  had  been  tied  on  a  horse's  back,  and 
a  handful  of  men  were  scramblino-  off  with  him  down 
one  of  the  side  streets.  Thev  were  hotly  pursued,  and 
Claud  Hamilton,  remembering  the  Archbishop,  and 
fearing  that  he  would  be  rescued,  ran  after  them,  call- 
ing out,  "  Shoot  him  ;  shoot  the  Regent ! "  A  trooper, 
named  Cawdor,  drew  a  pistol  and  fired,  and  Lennox 
fell  mortally  wounded,  and  was  left  upon  the  ground. 
Then  all  was  confusion.  The  Borderers  had  done  their 
peculiar  portion  of  the  business  well.  They  got  off 
with  300  horses,  "  besides  a  great  butin  of  merchants' 
goods  ; "  but  from  twenty  to  thirty  of  the  party  were 
taken  or  killed,  Scott  of  Buccleuch  among  them,  and 
to  the  plunder  had  been  sacrificed  the  whole  serious 
fruit  of  an  enterprise,  which,  in  the  opinion  of  the  Cas- 
tilians,  "if  it  had  been  wisely  followed  out,  had  put  an 
end  to  the  troubles  of  Scotland  without  blood  or  dif- 
ficulty." 

Lennox  survived  only  a  few  hours,  and  "  then  de- 
parted to  God  very  peacefully,"  "  exhorting  all  men 
to  follow  still  the  action  for  the  maintenance  of  the 
King."  Stepchild  of  fortune  through  a  hard  life,  his 
father  killed,  his  son  murdered,  he  himself,  a  second 
Regent,  now  went  down  in  blood,  and  was  hardly  paid 
by  the  poor  honour  of  being  father  of  the  line  of  Eng- 
lish kings. 

Cawdor,  who  was  taken,  was  broken  on  the  wheel. 
He  confessed,  and  a  comrade  confessed  also,  that  their 
orders  had  been  to  kill  Morton  and  Ruthven  also. 

On  the  spot,  that  tliere  should  be  no  trouble  with 
Elizabeth,  the  Earl  of  Mar  was  elected  as  Lennox's 
successor.  The  fire  of  hate  was  fanned  into  fury,  and 
Maitland's  stroke  of  IjriUiant  strategy  served    only  to 


286  History  of  England.  [Ch.  xxi. 

draw  a  sharper  line  of  separation  between  the  Castil- 
ians  and  the  rest  of  then'  countrymen. 

Had  Alva  come,  the  north  and  east  were  still  held 
by  Huntly,  and  Aberdeen  would  have  been  open  to 
receive  him  ;  but  on  that  same  week  of  September, 
when  Lennox  was  dying  at  Stirling,  and  Hawkins  was 
writing  from  Plymouth  of  his  officer's  success  at  Ma- 
drid, a  happy  accident  explained  to  Cecil  the  missing 
ciphers,  and  extinguished  the  remaining  chances  of 
the  Ridolfi  conspiracy.^ 

1  For  the  attempt  at  Stirling  see  Advertisements  from  Scotland,  Sep- 
tember 6:  MSS.  Scotland.  Another  account:  Ibid.  Maitland  and  Grange 
to  Sir  William  Drur_v,  September  6:  Ibid.  Drury  to  Cecil,  September  10 
and  September  13 :  Ibid.  Confession  of  Cawdor  and  Bell :  Ibid.  Two  let- 
ters, ciphers  deciphered,  from  Maitland  to  Mary  Stuart,  September — : 
MSS.  Queen  of  Scots. 


1571.]  The  Reign  of  Elizabeth.  287 


CHAPTER  XXII. 

As  the  summer  of  1571  passed  away,  each  week 
had  brouo;ht  fresh  information  on  the  intended  invasion 
of  Eno-land.  The  confessions  which  had  been  forced 
out  of  Baily  in  the  Marshalsea  and  the  Tower  had 
revealed  the  general  fact  that  a  treasonable  corre- 
spondence was  going  forward  between  the  Netherlands, 
the  Bishop  of  Ross,  and  other  parties  whose  names 
were  concealed  behind  a  cipher.  Sir  John  Hawkins 
had  penetrated  into  the  confidence  of  Philip  himself, 
and  had  linked  the  conspiracy  with  the  person  of  the 
Queen  of  Scots  ;  and  details  of  Ridolfi's  commission, 
with  the  formidable  but  still  vague  intimation  that  he 
had  declared  himself  the  representative  of  three-quar- 
ters of  the  English  nobility,  had  been  collected  by  the 
Florentine  Ambassador  at  Antwerp,  and  communicated 
to  Elizabeth. 1 

The  Government  was  thus  warned  to  prepare  ;  yet 
it  was  not  easy  to  determine  on  the  measures  which  it 
would  be  wise  to  adopt.     The  Queen  could  not  order 

1  "  In  Flanders,  bj'  the  Ambassador  of  a  foreign  Prince,  the  whole  plot 
of  this  treason  was  discovered,  and  by  a  servant  of  his  brought  to  her 
Majesty's  intelligence."  —  Speech  of  the  Salic'dur- General  {Sir  Thomas 
Bromley).  Trial  of  the  Duke  of  Norfolk.  The  Spanish  account  identifies 
the  Ambassador  and  intimates  that  tlie  communication  was  brought  to  Eng- 
land circuitously  through  the  Duke  of  Florence. 

"  Un  lunbajador  f|ue  estaba  en  Anvers  descubrio  la  misina  plalica  y 
negociacion  de  Kidolfo,  y  todas  sus  instrucciones  y  advertencias,  que  dio  al 
Duque  de  Florencia  su  sefior,  el  qual  lo  escribio  muy  a  la  larga  ii  la  Keyna 
de  Inglaterra." — Avisos  de  Londres  u  Don  Guerau  dc  Espes:  MS.  Si- 
mancas. 


288  Ristory  of  England.  [Ch.  xxii. 

a  general  arrest  of  the  aristocracy  ;  and  disaffection  in 
a  greater  or  less  degree  existed  over  the  whole  coun- 
try. The  upper  classes  were  deeply  opposed  to  the 
revolutionary  Protestantism  which  Cecil  and  his  friends 
were  supposed  to  desire  to  introduce  among  them,  and 
were  agitated  with  a  fear,  which  amounted  to  a  disease, 
of  a  disputed  succession  after  Elizabeth's  death.  She 
could  not  throw  herself  on  the  patriotism  of  the  nation, 
as  her  father  did  when  Pole  was  preaching  a  crusade. 
In  the  absence  of  any  distinct  act  which  could  be 
openly  charged  against  Mary  Stuart,  it  was  unsafe  to 
take  her  out  of  the  hands  of  Lord  Shrewsbury.  What- 
ever doubts  might  be  entertained  of  Shrewsbury's 
fidelity,  Elizabeth  thought  it  necessary  to  her  position 
to  be  still  able  to  tell  Europe  that  the  Queen  of  Scots 
was  residing  with  a  nobleman  notoriously  favourable  to 
her. 

Nor  could  Cecil,  with  his  utmost  efforts,  succeed  in 
tracing  the  conspiracy  distinctly  to  any  English  subject. 
As  successive  frao;ments  of  information  came  to  his 
hands,  he  sent  again  and  again  for  the  Bishop  of  Ross, 
to  cross-question  and  threaten  him  ;  but,  although  the 
whole  affair  from  the  beginning  had  been  the  Bishop's 
contrivance,  he  bore  the  examination  without  flinching. 
He  pleaded  his  privilege  as  ambassador  to  keep  secret 
whatever  passed  between  himself  and  his  mistress.  He 
admitted  that  he  had  commissioned  Ridolfi  to  sue  for 
help  to  her  party  in  Scotland.  "  If  there  was  any 
further  matter  in  hand,"  he  said,  "  no  doubt  it  pro- 
ceeded from  the  Pope  himself,  who  was  well  known  to 
desire  ardently  the  recovery  of  England  to  the  Church, 
and  would  use  all  means  possible  to  that  effect."  ^ 

1  The  Bishop  of  Ross  before  the  Council  at  Hampton  Court,  August  8: 
MSS.  Queen  of  Scots. 


1571.]  Tlie  Reign  of  Elizabeth.  289 

The  suspicions  of  Cecil  were  not  removed  ;  he  knew 
too  much  to  be  so  easily  deceived.  The  Bishop  was 
not  set  at  liberty,  and  was  sent  down  to  the  Fens  in 
charge  of  the  Bishop  of  Ely ;  but  still  nothing  had 
been  discovered  on  which  resolute  action  was  possible. 
Country  gentlemen  from  all  parts  of  England  visited 
the  Duke  of  Norfolk  at  Howard  House,  and  went  to 
and  fro  without  interruption.  The  Duke  himself  was 
so  slightly  guarded,  that  "  at  any  time  he  could  leap  on 
horseback  at  his  back  door  and  ride  away,  and  send 
word  to  the  Queen  that  he  was  gone."  ^  His  influence 
was  supposed  to  be  so  great  "  that  the  Queen's  power 
w^as  nothing  by  the  side  of  his,"  ^  and  that  alone  and 
without  Alva's  assistance  he  would  soon  be  able  to 
dictate  his  pleasure  to  her. 

Thus  the  Spanish  Ambassador  remained  sanguine 
that  all  would  still  go  well.  The  war  with  the  Turks 
in  the  Mediterranean  had  interfered  with  the  depart- 
ure of  the  Duke  of  Medina,  but  the  delay,  if  tantaliz- 
ing, would  not  be  necessarily  fatal.  The  refugees  at 
Louvain  expected  that  with  the  coming  spring  at  latest 
they  would  be  at  home  again,  purging  their  country  of 
the  stains  of  heresy ;  and  the  traitors  in  the  Queen's 
household  kept  them  constantly  informed  of  every 
movement  in  the  English  Court.''^ 

The  young   Duke  of  Guise    and   the    Cardinal  of 

1  MSS.  Hatfield,  August,  1571. 

2  MS.  Ibid. 

3  "  The  rebels  all  expect  to  be  in  England  next  spring  with  the  Dnke  of 
Alva,  and  then  they  will  spoil  the  new  ministers  heretics  of  all  they  Iwive, 
and  hang  them  and  not  leave  one  of  them  alive.  They  all  came  of  Luther; 
and  the  devil  came  to  Luther  by  night  to  tell  him  what  he  should  say. 
They  say  the  Queen  of  England  is  no  righteous  C^ueen  and  ought  to  be  put 
away.  If  the  weather  is  fair  they  have  news  from  the  Court  of  all  that 
passes  there  every  two  days." — Report  of  Conversation  at  the  Earl  of 
Westmoreland's  table,  by  Henry  Simson :  Border  MSS.,  October  8. 

VOL.  X.  19 


290  History  of  England.  [Ch.  xxii. 

Lorraine  liad  been  at  Brussels  with  Alva,  and  it  was 
understood  that  if  the  French  Government  took  the 
side  of  Eno-land  the  Guise  faction  would  rise.  Lord 
Derby  was  said  to  have  Catholic  service  in  his  house- 
hold without  disguise,  and  to  be  casting  cannon  in  the 
Isle  of  Man.  Lancashire,  Cheshire,  Yorkshire,  Nor- 
folk, Suffolk,  Hampshire,  Surrey,  and  Sussex,  were 
believed  to  be  waiting  only  for  Norfolk's  instructions 
to  rise  at  a  moment's  notice :  and  the  Queen  was 
thought  to  have  lost  her  only  chance  of  saving  herself 
by  trifling  with  France,  and  by  neglecting  at  the  same 
time  to  form  a  leao;ue  with  Count  Louis  and  the  Ger- 
man  Princes. ^ 

So  matters  stood  when  an  insionificant  accident 
threw  the  Duke  of  Norfolk  into  Cecil's  power.  A 
stream  of  money  was  being  continually  poured  into 
Scotland  to  support  the  Marian  faction  there.  From 
Rome,  Madrid,  and  the  Low  Countries,  large  sums  had 
been  repeatedly  sent  over  ;  and  France,  as  long  as  it 
was  uncertain  of  Elizabeth,  could  not  afford  to  be  be- 
hind the  rest.  At  the  end  of  August,  in'  reply  to  an 
urgent  demand  from  the  Queen  of  Scots,  a  letter  of 
credit  for  2000  crowns  was  forwarded  for  her  use 
through  La  Mothe,  and  the  Ambassador  handed  it 
over  to  the  Duke  to  be  sent  on  to  Lord  Herries.  Six 
hun(,lred  pounds  were  sealed  up  in  a  bag,  with  instruc- 
tions in  cipher  that  the  money  was  to  be  delivered  to 
one  of  the  Lowthers,  by  whom  it  would  be  conveyed 
across  the  Border  ;  and  the  Duke's  two  secretaries  — 
Higford,  of  whom  nothing  further  is  known,  and  Barker, 
an  old  favourite  of  Anne  Boleyn  —  were  directed  to 
send  the  bag  and  its  contents  to  the  Duke's 

September.  ^    •       Qi  i  •  1    T?       • 

agent  m  bhropshu'e,    a   man    named  Banis- 

1  Avisos  de  Inglaterra,  September  1 :  MS.  Simancas. 


1571.]  Tlie  Reign  of  Elizabeth.  291 

ter.  A  Shrewsbury  merchant,  who  had  been  in 
London  making  purchases,  was  returning  home.  Hig- 
ford  desired  this  person  to  take  charge  of  it,  teUing 
him  that  it  was  fifty  pounds'  worth  of  silver,  which  the 
Duke  was  forwardino;  to  his  steAvard.  The  merchant, 
who  suspected  nothing,  had  ahnost  reached  Shrews- 
bury when  the  weight  of  the  bag  struck  him  as  unu- 
suah  He  opened  it,  found  gold  and  a  ciphered  letter, 
and  immediately  returned  to  make  known  his  discov- 
ery to  Cecil. ^  It  was  just  at  the  moment  when  Fitz- 
william  had  returned  the  last  time  from  Spain.  Cecil, 
more  than  ever  vigilant,  and  especially  watchful  of 
Xorfolk,  sent  at  once  for  Higford  and  required  him  to 
deciplier  the  paper.  Higford  hesitated,  and  said  that 
he  could  not  do  it  without  the  key  ;  afterwards,  being 
required  to  produce  the  key  and  being  threatened  with 
the  rack,  he  said  that  it  would  be  found  under  the  mat 
at  the  door  of  his  master's  bedroom.  Sir  Henry  Ne- 
ville was  despatched  to  look  for  it,  and  found  there, 
not  the  key  of  which  he  was  4n  search,  but  another 
letter  in  cipher  also  —  the  letter,  unfortunately  for 
the  Duke,  which  the  Queen  of  Scots  had  written  to 
him  preparatory  to  the  mission  of  Ridolfi.  The  fresh 
mystery  produced  fresh  suspicion.  Higford,  being 
again  menaced  with  torture,  read  the  first  cipher  from 
memory,  and  this  established  beyond  doubt  that  Nor- 
folk, who  had  sworn  to  Elizabeth  "  to  deal  no  further 
in  the  Queen  of  Scots'  causes,"  was  corresponding 
with    and    assisting    her   friends    in    Scotland.^      Sir 

1  Kelacion  de  la  prision  del  Secretario  del  Duque  de  Norfolk,  September 
3:  MS.  Simancas.     Examination  of  Higford  and  Barker:  Murdin. 

2  "  The  words  of  the  ticket  deciphered  " :  — 

"  You  shall  receive  sealed  up  in  a  bag  by  this  bearer,  Mr.  Brown  of 
Shrewsbuiy,  .£600  in  gold,  which  must  be  presently  sent  to  Lowther  to 
be  conveyed  into  Scotland  to  the  Lord  llerrien,  to  be  sent  by  him  forth- 


292  History  of  England.  [Ch.  xxil. 

Thomas  Smith  and  Doctor  Wilson,  the  Master  of  the 
Court  of  Requests,  waited  upon  the  Duke,  and  told 
him  that  a  bag  which  he  had  sent  to  Shrewsbury  had 
miscarried,  and  asked  him  for  an  explanation  of  its 
contents.  The  Duke,  not  knowing  that  his  cipher  had 
been  read,  repeated  the  story  that  he  was  sending 
money  to  his  steward  on  private  affairs  of  his  own. 
The  lie  was  more  alarming  than  the  truth  ;  and,  as  it 
was  likely  that  he  would  attempt  to  fly.  Sir  Ralph  Sad- 
ler was  summoned  out  of  his  bed  at  midnight  and  sent 
with  a  company  of  the  Queen's  guard  to  take  charge 
of  him.  The  other  secretary  was  arrested,  and,  being 
ignorant  also  of  what  Higford  had  done,  contradicted 
both  him  and  his  master.  The  Duke  was  examined 
a  second  time  :  he  was  told  that  there  was  reason  to 
believe  the  money  to  be  intended  for  the  Scots,  and 
was  pressed  to  be  open  about  it.  He  reasserted  his 
own  explanation  with  so  much  positiveness  that  even 
the  seasoned  Sadler,  with  Higford's  confession  in  his 
hands,  listened  with  amazement  and  consternation.^ 

Cecil  was  now  satisfied  that  he  was  in  the  track  of 
important  discoveries.  The  examinations,  so  far  as 
they  had  gone,  were  laid  before  the  Queen,  and  Eliza- 
beth "  being  assui'ed  by  Norfolk's  manifest  untruth 
that  his  offences  were  the  greater  and  more  danger- 
ous," gave  orders  for  his  removal  to  the  Tower,  "  there 

with  to  Lidington  and  Grange.  This  money  is  shifted  for  at  this  present 
only  to  relieve  their  friends,  which  otherwise  for  want  of  money  are  like 
enough  to  revolt;  and  therefore  the  more  speed  must  be  used  herein,  which 
I  pray  you  do  by  all  possible  means."  —  Endorsed  by  Sir  T.  Smith,  to  Lord 
Burghle}',  September  2:  MSS.  Domestic. 

1  •'  The  Duke  absolutely  and  expressly  denieth  all  with  such  constant 
asseveration  and  earnest  protestations,  as  if  it  be  true  that  Higford  has  con- 
fessed, which  indeed  hath  such  appearance  of  truth  as  for  my  part  I  believe 
it  to  be  true  as  yet,  then  is  the  Duke  a  devil  and  no  Christian  man."  — 
Sadler  to  Burghley,  September  5 :  MS.  Ibid. 


1571.]  The  Reign  of  Elizabeth.  293 

to  be  secluded  strictly  from  intelligence  with  any  per- 
sons, which  she  knew  would  be  in  many  ways  at- 
tempted." 1 

Cowardice  was  not  a  common  fault  in  an  English 
nobleman  ;  the  iBrst  peer  in  the  land,  the  head  of  the 
proud  House  of  Howard,  and  the  aspirant  for  the  hand 
of  England's  expectant  Queen,  fell  upon  his  knees 
when  the  warrant  was  brought  to  him  and  cried  for 
mercy  like  a  poltroon.  Mounted  "  on  a  footcloth  nag  " 
between  Sadler  and  Sir  Thomas  Smith,  and  attended 
only  by  their  own  servants,  he  was  led  through  the 
streets  to  the  Tower  o-ates  amidst  a  crowd  of  women 
and  idle  boys  and  girls,  and  he  was  locked  into  a  room 
with  a  set  of  questions  to  read  and  think  over  and  pre- 
pare for  a  third  examination  in  the  morning.^  His 
first  step  was  to  compromise  himself  still  more  fatally. 
He  wrote  a  note  to  some  one  at  Howard  House  desir- 
ing that  all  his  ciphers  might  be  collected  and  burnt. 
He  cave  it  to  an  attendant  at  the  Tower  whom  he 
believed  that  he  had  bribed.  The  attendant  carried 
it  to  the  Lieutenant,  by  whom  it  was  passed  on  to 
Burghley.3 

From  this  moment  discovery  succeeded  discovery 
with  bi'eathless  rapidity.  The  method  of  enquiry, 
however  inconsonant  with  modern  conceptions  of  jus- 
tice, was  adapted  excellently  for  the  outrooting  of  the 
truth.  In  quiet  times  the  prisoner  is  more  considered 
than  the  State.  The  commonwealth  is  in  no  danger 
though  isolated  crimes  be  undiscovered  or  unpunished, 
and  the  possible  suffering  of  one  innocent  person  is 
held  to  be  a  greater  evil  than  the  occasional  escape  of 

1  Sadler  to  Bnrghley,  September  5 :  MSS.  Domestic. 

2  Sadler,  Smith,  and  Wilson  to  Burghley,  September  7:  Murdin. 
8  Avisos  de  Londres,  September:  MS.  Simancas. 


294  History  of  England.  [Ch.  xxil. 

the  guilty.  But  the  change  is  less  due  to  moral  im- 
provement than  to  the  conditions  of  our  present  life  ; 
and  if  we  shudder  at  the  cruelty  which  wrenched  con- 
fessions out  of  strained  limbs  and  quivering  muscles, 
it  is  no  less  true  that  Elizabeth's  Government  would 
have  come  to  a  swift  end  if  her  ministers  had  been  em- 
barrassed with  modern  scruples.  Banister  was  sent 
for  from  Shrewsbury  and  racked.  Barker  yielded  to 
terror  and  told  all  that  he  knew.  By  his  directions  the 
key  was  found  between  two  tiles  on  the  roof  of  How- 
ard House  which  unlocked  the  letter  of  the  Queen 
of  Scots.  Each  victim  wdien  he  tried  to  equivocate 
was  confronted  with  the  acknowledgments  of  his  com- 
panions, or  left  with  papers  of  questions  so  worded  as 
to  exhibit  most  strongly  the  hopelessness  of  further 
concealment.  The  Duke,  who  was  abject  from  the 
first,  redeemed  his  infamy  in  some  slight  degree  by  en- 
deavouring to  shield  Mary  Stuart.  He  poured  out 
streams  of  unmeaning  eloquence  to  Elizabeth  and 
Burghley,  forever  asseverating  his  innocence,  enlarg- 
ing the  circle  of  his  admissions  only  when  forced  by 
the  confessions  of  his  secretaries,  and  then  wildly  charg- 
ing them  with  havino-  sold  his  blood  and  with  endeav- 
ouring  to  buy  their  own  pardon  at  the  expense  of  his 
life.  The  Catholic  nobles  lay  still,  paralysed  by  the 
sudden  energy  of  the  Court,  doubting  the  effect  on 
Alva  of  the  Duke's  imprisonment,  and  lacking  courage 
to  risk  their  lives  by  rising  alone  in  his  defence.  The 
courtiers,  the  crew  of  traitors  whom  Elizabeth  persisted 
in  keeping  about  her  person,  dared  not  openly  speak  for 
him,  but  worked  secretly  to  baffle  the  enquiry,  gave 
him  notice  of  the  questions  which  would  be  asked  him, 
and  advised  him  as  to  what  he  should  answer.^ 
1  On  the  23d  of  September  Sir  Owen  Hopton,  the  Lieutenant  of  the 


1571.]  The  Reign  of  Elizahetli.  295 

But  no  clue  which  they  could  give  him  sufficed  in 
the  labyrinth  in  ^vhich  he  was  involved.  He  staggered 
from  falsehood  to  falsehood  as  thread  by  thread  his  con- 
nexion with  Ridolfi  was  ravelled  out.  First  he  swore 
that  he  had  never  spoken  with  or  seen  Ridolfi  ;  then  he 
said  he  had  spoken  with  him  once  but  only  on  personal 
business.  Afterwards  he  allowed  that  Ridolfi  had  sug- 
gested treason  to  him,  but  he  vowed  that  he  had  i^e- 
fused  to  listen,  and  he  insisted  positively  that  he  had 
never  heard  from  Ridolfi  since  the  latter  left  Enfrland. 
Here,  too,  he  was  unable  to  escape  from  the  merciless 
Cecil.  Charles  Baily,  it  will  be  remembered,  confessed 
to  two  letters  which  he  had  brought  over  addressed 
with  the  ciphers  30  and  40,  which  the  Bishop  of  Ross 
said  that  he  had  burnt,  but  which  in  fact  had  been  for- 
warded to  their  destination.  The  fio;ures  hitherto  had 
been  undeciphered,  but  the  rack  now  dragged  out  the 
truth.      Cobham  admitted  the   theft  of  Baily's  packet 


Tower,  enclosed  the  following  note  to  Burghley,  which  one  of  the  servants 
had  been  detected  in  attempting  to  deliver  into  the  Duke's  hands  : 

"  We  received  yours  though  not  at  that  length  that  was  desired.  Your 
friends  at  Court  dare  not  deal.  There  are  two  ways  to  receive  intelligence, 
both  I  hope  trusty.  You  shall  hear  this  day  of  something  that  stands  you 
upon  to  be  very  circumspect  how  you  do  confess,  for  in  confessing  there 
may  be  much  peril.  Your  case,  for  anything  we  can  yet  learn,  groweth 
very  hard.  Therefore  it  standeth  you  in  hand  to  comfort  yourself  as  ye 
may;  and  God  comfort  you.  We  hear  not  whether  you  have  well  looked 
at  the  covering  of  j'our  book  [23]."  —  Sir  Owen  Hopton  to  Burghley: 
AISS.  HutfiM. 

The  last  sentence  with  the  number  refers  probably  to  a  <'ipher  whit:h  was 
found  on  the  back  of  a  bible  in  the  Duke's  room. 

The  complaints  of  the  treachery  in  the  Ro3'al  household  are  constant.. 
Three  quarters  of  the  courtiers,  men  and  women,  were  in  Mary  Stuart's 
interests,  and  supplied  her  friends  witii  information.  One  of  Cecil's  agents 
wrote  three  or  four  weeks  later  to  him:  —  "  Tlie  Papists  in  the  reahii  liiid 
too  much  favour  in  liie  Court.  As  long  as  that  continuetii,  practising  will 
never  have  end.  The  double-faced  gentlemen,  who  will  be  Protestants  at 
Court,  and  in  tlie  country  secret  Papists,  frigidam  siifruinlunt."  —  Tliomas 
Ashton  to  liurghley,  October  23:  Mtiti.  BomcsUc. 


296  History  of  England.  [Ch.  xxii. 

and  the  trick  by  which  Cecil  had  been  partly  duped. 
The  secretaries  gave  up  the  names,  and  30  was  found 
to  have  been  the  Duke  of  Norfolk,  and  40  his  brother- 
in-law  Lord  Lumley.  By  the  middle  of  October  the 
Government  had  full  possession  of  the  entire  secret. 
The  remaining  noblemen  who  had  been  prominentlv 
concerned  in  the  conspiracy  were  traced  out  one  after 
another.  Lumley  was  sent  to  the  Marshalsea,  South- 
ampton to  the  Tower,  and  Arundel  placed  under  a 
guard  at  his  own  house.  The  part  which  the  Queen 
of  Scots  had  played  was  revealed  in  her  own  letters, 
of  which  Barker  had  betrayed  the  key.  Orders  went 
down  to  Shetiield  that  her  servants  should  be  reduced, 
and  that  she  herself  should  be  committed  to  close  im- 
prisonment. Shrewsbury  immediately  obeyed.  He 
informed  her  that  her  transactions  with  Ridolfi  were 
discovered  ;  and  he  added,  as  a  message  from  Eliza- 
beth, "  that  her  intentions  and  practices  against  the 
Queen  and  the  realm  did  deserve  a  sharper  dealing,  as 
time  would  shortly  make  clear  to  all  the  world."  ^ 
Norfolk's  "  soft  and  dastardly  spirit "  never  showed 
in  sharper  contrast  with  Marv  Stuart's  than 

October.  ^  ^  /.       i      •  *  i 

at  this  moment  ot  then:  common  danger. 
The  Queen  of  Scots  replied,  in  her  own  most  haughty 
style,  "  that  she  had  come  to  England  as  a  free  Prin- 
cess relying  upon  promises  which  had  been  repeatedly 
made  to  her,  and  instead  of  friendship  and  hospitality 
she  had  found  a  prison.  It  was  true,  therefore,  that 
she  had  applied  to  the  King  of  Spain  to  replace  her  on 
her  own  throne.  Those  who  said  that  she  had  done 
more  were  false  villains  and  lied  in  their  throats.  The 
Duke  of  Norfolk  was  the  Queen  of  England's  subject, 

1  Mary  Stuart  to  La  Mothe.  September  8:  Labanoff,  Tol.  III.    Notes  in 
Cecil's  hand,  October  22:  MSS.  Queen  0/ Scots. 


1571.]  The  Rdgn  of  Elizabeth.  297 


and  for  him  she  had  nothing  to  sav.  For  herself,  she 
was  a  free  Princess,  the  Queen  of  England's  equal, 
and  was  answerable  neither  to  her  nor  to  any  other 
person."  In  Lord  Shrewsbury's  presence  she  called 
her  secretary  to  her,  and  bade  him  go  tell  the  King  of 
France  how  he  had  seen  her  treated.  She  wrote  to 
Cecil  to  say  that  she  had  loyally  kept  to  the  engage- 
ments into  which  she  had  entered  with  him  and  Sir 
Walter  Mildmay,  and  was  ill  rewarded  for  her  good 
faith.  She  wrote  to  La  Mothe  that  her  life  was  in 
dano-er.  If  his  master  intended  to  move  in  her  behalf, 
he  must  do  it  then  or  never.  She  took  leave  of  her 
dismissed  attendants  as  if  she  was  never  to  see  them 
more,  and  she  asked  for  a  priest  to  prepare  her  for  the 
death  which  she  professed  to  expect.^ 

Neither  anger  nor  pathos  moved  Shrewsbuiy,  who, 
whatever  may  have  been  his  past  hesitation,  w^as  now 
determined  to  be  faithful  to  his  mistress.  Mary  Stuart's 
correspondence  was  effectively  crushed.  A  lad  was 
detected  in  bringing  dangerous  letters  to  her  concealed 
in  a  staif.  She  was  at  once  confined  to  a  single  room, 
the  bolts  were  taken  off  the  doors,  and  she  was  watched 
day  and  night.  Even  the  linen  of  herself  and  her 
ladies  was  passed  to  the  wash  through  the  hands  of 
male  inspectors,  the  women  of  the  castle  being  all  de- 
voted to  her,  and  the  observance  of  common  decorum 
being  no  longer  safe  or  possible.  Shrewsbury  told 
Cecil  that  "  those  should  buy  her  dearly  who  should 
o-et  her  from  his  hands  ;  if  five  thousand  men  tried  to 
rescue  her  he  would  give  them  such  a  banquet  as  they 
should  repent  that  they  had  come  to  Sheffield."  ^ 

1  Mary  Stuart  to  La  Mothe,  September  8,  September  18;  To  Cecil,  Sep- 
tember 0;  To  the  Archbishop  of  Glasgow,  September  18:  Labauoff,  Vol. 
III. 

2  Shrewsbury  to  Cecil,  October  24:  MSS.  Queen  of  Scots. 


298  Eistory  of  England.  [Ch.  xxii. 

The  Bishop  of  Ross  was  then  called  up  again  from 
the  country.  Cecil  had  waited  till  the  case  was  com- 
plete against  him.  Elizabeth's  tenderness  to  the  sov- 
ereign rights  of  the  Queen  of  Scots  had  permitted  him 
to  remain  at  the  Court  with  the  privileges  of  an  am- 
bassador. He  had  abused  his  liberty  to  be  the  arch 
contriver  of  a  gigantic  conspiracy,  and  the  law  officers 
of  the  Crown,  when  consulted  by  Cecil,  gave  as  their 
opinions,  first,  that  the  representative  of  a  prince  or 
princess  lawfully  deposed  possessed  no  privileges  at 
all ;  and  secondly,  that  an  ambassador  who  could  be 
proved  to  have  moved  a  rebellion  in  the  country  to 
which  he  was  accredited,  had  forfeited  his  protection 
and  might  be  proceeded  against  as  a  private  person. ^ 
Thus  fortified,  the  Council  ordered  that  the  Bishop 
should  be  brought  back  to  London.  They  told  him 
briefly  that  his  practices  had  been  fully  discovered,  and 
that  unless  he  answered  truly  to  the  questions  which 
would  be  put  to  him,  "  he  should  be  made  to  suffer  to 
the  example  and  terror  of  all  others." 

The  Bishop  was  a  brave  man  :  on  his  way  up  out  of 

Cambridgeshire  he  had  received    a  message  from  La 

Mothe  that  the  Duke  had  confessed  to  no  particvdars, 

and  that  he  might  stand  out  in  a  general  denial.     He 

assumed  a  hioh  tone.     He  declared  that  he 

November. 

had  done  nothing  of  Avhich  they  had  a  right 
to  complain.  He  was  privileged,  and  if  he  had  ex- 
ceeded his  commission  he  was  only  answerable  to  his 
mistress.  Cecil  replied  sternly  that  his  answer  had 
been  anticipated  and  provided  for,  and  that  his  privi- 
leges were  not  to  be  respected.  He  was  allowed  two 
days  to  consider  what  he  would  do,  and  he  was  sup- 
plied with  proofs  that  La  Mothe  had  been  mistaken, 
1  Opinions  on  the  privileges  of  Ambassadors,  October  17:  Murdin. 


1571.]  TJie  Reign  of  Elizahetli.  299 

and  that  much,  if  not  all,  of  the  transactions  with  Ri- 
dolfi  was  really  known.  Had  he  been  aware  that  Eliza- 
beth had  refused  to  allow  him  to  be  tortured,  he  might 
have  remained  obstinate  ;  ^  but  he  saw  before  him  the 
rack  and  perhaps  the  scaffold,  and  when  the  time  al- 
lowed him  had  elapsed,  he  followed  the  example  of  the 
secretaries,  and  confessed  to  all  which  was  important 
that  he  knew. 

The  secrets  of  the  last  four  years  were  thus  one  by 
one  cleared  up.  The  Bishop,  for  the  first  time,  ex- 
plained fully  to  Cecil  the  private  history  of  the  con- 
ference at  York  ;  the  original  design  for  the  Norfolk 
marriage ;  the  manoeuvres  to  suppress  the  letters  and 
prevent  an  exposure  which  would  stain  his  mistress's 
character.  He  admitted  his  own  and  the  Duke's  con- 
nexion with  the  rebellion  of  the  North,  and  described 
the  causes  which  had  prevented  it  from  spreading. 
He  mentioned  the  plan  which  had  been  formed  for 
breaking  up  the  Parliament  and  seizing  the  Queen's 
person  ;  and  finally  for  bringing  the  Spaniards  to 
Harwich.  He  did  not  conceal  the  names  of  the  no- 
blemen w^ho  had  specially  committed  themselves  with 
promises  to  join  in  the  insurrection.  Finally,  he  wrote 
to  the  Queen  of  Scots  to  tell  her  that  all  was  over, 

1  The  Spanish  story  says  that  the  Bishop  was  tortured.  "  Al  Obispo  de 
Ross,"  says  a  correspondent  of  the  Spanish  Court, "  lian  dado  tormento 
y  forf;adole  a  declarar  todo  lo  que  le  preguntdron  tocante  al  Duque  de  Nor- 
folk." But  to  the  regret  of  Doctor  Wilson,  one  of  the  examiners,  who 
believed  that  the  rack  might  have  been  applied  to  good  purpose,  it  never 
came  to  this  extremity. 

"The  Bishop  of  Ross,"  says  Wilson,  "when  he  found  it  useless  to  con- 
ceal the  truth,  confessed  much,  and  would  have  confessed  more,  bi.th  he 
and  others,  if  they  had  been  more  straitly  used,  and  by  duresse  enforced  to 
reveal  the  secrets  of  those  horrible  dealings.  But  such  is  the  mildness  of 
our  gracious  sovereign,  that  she  had  rather  hazard  her  own  person  ttmn 
yield  to  such  extreme  dealings,  although  necessity  never  so  much  n'([uired 
the  same."  —  T.  Wilson  to  Cecil,  July  ;jl,  1573:  Flanders  MSS. 


800  History  of  England.  '  [Ch.  xxii. 

and  advised  her  to  do  as  he  had  done,  and  give  up 
conspiracies.  "  He  was  very  sorry,"  he  said,  "  that 
they  had  ever  meddled  with  such  things."  "  The  dis- 
covery had  been  made  by  God's  providence,  that  for 
the  future  her  Majesty  might  trust  only  in  God  and 
her  good  sister  ;  "  and  while  making  a  clean  breast  of 
it,  he  admitted  to  Doctor  Wilson  her  share  in  the  mur- 
der of  Darnley.i  It  was  not  the  least  of  Mary  Stuart's 
misfortunes,  that  being  accepted  by  the  Pope  as  a  con- 
fessor for  the  Catholic  faith,  she  was  able  to  dwell  ex- 
clusively on  the  meritorious  aspect  of  her  character ; 
to  forget  that  it  had  other  and  less  favourable  features, 
and  to  expect  the  memory  of  the  general  world  to  be 
as  unretentive  as  her  own.  She  was  unhappy  also  in 
her  exaggerated  belief  in  the  power  of  her  own  elo- 
quence, in  her  expectation  that  her  pathetic  and  pas- 
sionate words  would  pass  at  all  times  for  current  coin, 
although  her  letters  so  frequently  miscarried  ;  and 
protestations  of  love  and  confidence  could  be  contrasted 
too  often  by  the  persons  to  whom  they  were  addressed, 
with  expressions  of  contempt  and  hatred.  An  accident 
of  this  kind  befell  her  in  the  midst  of  her  present 
troubles.  After  chafing  for  a  month,  she  sent  off  one 
of  her  usual  rhetorical  appeals  to  Elizabeth  ;  and  a 
few  days  later  she  wrote  to  La  Mothe,  declaring  that 
Elizabeth  was  all  falsehood  and  treachery,  that  she 
would  rather  perish  than  yield,  and  again  entreating 
France  to  take  her  and  Scotland  under  their  protec- 
tion.2  The  second  letter  fell  into  Burghley's  hands. 
It  told  him  nothing  new,  but  it  told  him  how  vain  was 
the  hope  that  Mary  Stuart  could  be  other  than  herself. 

1  The  Bishop  of  Ross  to  the  Queen  of  Scots,  November  8 ;  Doctor  Wil- 
son to  Burghley,  November  8 :  Hatfield  MSS.     Printed  by  Murdin. 

2  Mary  Staart   to  Elizabeth,  October  29;  To  La  Mothe,  November  7: 
Labanoff. 


1571.]  The  Reign  of  Elizabeth.  301 

In  this  humour  she  was  to  learn  that  the  Bishop  of 
Ross  had  given  way,  that  he  had  admitted  the  true 
character  of  Ridolfi's  mission,  and  that  her  protesta- 
tions of  integrity  had  been  thrown  away.  There,  in 
plain  words,  in  the  handwriting  of  her  own  agent,  was 
the  intimation  that  he  had  made  a  full  confession,  and 
the  mask  could  be  worn  no  longer.  Shrewsbury 
placed  the  Bishop's  letter  in  her  hands.  "  The  hand," 
she  said,  "  was  Esau's  hand,  but  the  voice  was  Jacob's  ; 
the  Bishop  had  held  the  pen,  but  some  one  else  had 
guided  it."  Then  bursting  into  rage,  she  cried,  "  that 
the  Bishop  of  Ross  was  a  flayed  and  fearful  priest, 
who  had  done  as  they  would  have  him  do  ;  "  for  her- 
self, "  they  should  find  her  to  be  a  Queen,  and  to  have 
the  heart  of  a  Queen,  with  other  words  of  her  wonted 
miscon tented  manner  ;  "  ^  France  and  Spain,  she  said, 
would  come  and  deliver  her,  and  the  turn  of  her  ene- 
mies should  come. 

Alas !  France  was  but  congratulating  itself  that  the 
discovery  of  her  danger  might  frighten  Elizabeth  into  a 
renewed  desire  to  marry  one  of  its  Princes ;  and  Alva, 
on  the  news  of  Norfolk's  arrest,  had  driven  Ridolfi 
from  the  court,  and  had  determined  to  leave  to  God 
the  settlement  of  a  matter  in  which  the  Pope  assured 
him  tliat  God  was  profoundly  interested.  It  was  with 
the  utmost  unwillingness  that  either  the  Pope  or  Philip 
could  part  with  a  project  on  which  their  imagination 
had  dwelt  so  passionately.  Alva  laid  the  fault  on 
Ridolfi.  Ridolfi  complained  at  the  Vatican,  that  the 
fault  was  Alva's  in  refusing  to  allow  the  letters  which 
he  had  written  from  Brussels,  on  his  return  from  Spain, 
to   be    delivered.     The    Pope    still  urged  Philij),  and 

1  Shrewsbury  to  Cecil,  November  23,  1571;  Sadler  to  Cecil,  January  9 
1572:  MSS.  Queen  of  ScoU. 


302  History  of  England.  [Ch.  xxii. 

Philip,  still  harping  upon  God,  believed  that  it  was  not 
yet  too  late.  Angels,  he  thought,  would  fight  for  the 
good  cause,  and  he  could  not  stand  by  while  the  Cath- 
olics were  persecuted  into  apostasy  ;  Hawkins,  too,  the 
great  admiral,  was  on  their  side,  and  was  himself  an 
army ;  if  there  was  danger  in  making  the  venture, 
there  was  danger  and  dishonour  also  in  remaining  pas- 
sive.^  But  neither  Pope,  nor  King,  nor  trust  in  Haw- 
kins, could  move  the  resolve  of  Alva,  whose  only 
anxiety  was  to  shake  himself  free  from  the  clamours 
and  complaints  of  the  refugees.^ 

From    Spain    there    was    no   longer   hope,  and   the 

1  Philip  to  Alva,  September  14. 

2  "  The  affair  is  upset,"  Alva  wrote  to  Don  Juan  at  Rome,  "  and  for  the 
present  nothing  can  bo  done.  The  Queen  has  arrested  all  the  noblemen 
■who  would  have  assisted  us.  For  my  own  part,  I  looked  for  nothing  better 
with  such  light  people  to  deal  with.  You  will  explain  to  his  Holiness  how 
things  stand,  and  you  will  let  him  see  that  my  fear  of  what  has  actually 
taken  place  was  the  cause  of  the  caution  with  which  I  proceeded.  To  run 
hastily  into  ill-concerted  enterprises  stains  our  reputation,  turns  our  hands 
against  ourselves,  and  injures  rather  than  benefits  the  service  of  God.  God, 
it  is  clear,  can  bring  about  His  own  purposes  without  man's  assistance.  I 
doubt  not  He  will  put  His  hand  to  the  work  when  we  least  look  for  it,  and 
will  reward  his  Holiness  for  the  zeal  which  he  has  shown  in  His  cause  by 
bringing  about  a  happy  end  to  these  troubles  in  his  Holiness's  lifetime. 

"  At  present  his  Holiness  and  I  bear  the  whole  blame  in  England,  and 
although  the  Queen  is  not  acting  as  injustice  she  ought  to  do,  yet  she  has 
made  it  impossible  for  us  to  attempt  anything  with  a  hope  of  success.  I 
have  gone  to  a  great  expense  in  preparing  for  the  expedition.  His  Majesty 
bade  me  spare  nothing,  and  all  is  lost.  I  fear  we  have  been  betrayed  by 
the  French.  M.  de  Foix,  a  few  days  before  he  left  England,  told  a  friend 
in  conlidence  that  the  Duke  of  Norfolk  was  about  to  be  arrested.  Had  the 
Duke  been  equal  to  the  work,  he  might  now  have  been  in  the  place  of 
those  who  have  thrown  him  into  the  Tower  and  will  cut  off  his  liead.  You 
shall  hear  all  that  happens,  and  you  will  beg  his  Holiness,  as  far  as  possible, 
to  keep  our  secret  and  deny  everything.  A  confession  on  our  part  will  be 
the  final  destruction  of  those  poor  Catholics."  —  Alva  to  Don  Juan  de 
Cuniga:  MS.  Simancns. 

Cf.  Don  Juan  to  Philip,  November  28 :  MS.  Ibid. 

The  MSS.  of  these  and  all  the  other  Simancas  documents  of  which  I 
have  made  use  are  deposited  by  the  consent  of  the  Trustees  in  the  British 
Museum. 


1571.]  Tlie  Reign  of  Elizabeth.  303 

Queen  of  Scots'  expectations   from  France  were  not 
likely  to  be  improved,  as  the  Spanish  charac- 

October. 

ter  of  the  conspiracy  in  which  she  had  been 
involved  became  more  ftilly  revealed.  The  supersti- 
tions of  Anjou  had  been  worked  upon  by  the  Cardinal 
of  Lorraine,  but  if  Anjou  continued  obstinate,  there 
was  still  Alencon  ;  and  the  discovery  of  the  precipice 
on  which  she  was  standing  appeared  to  reawaken  Eliz- 
abeth to  the  importance  of  the  arguments  by  which 
Cecil  was  pressing  the  marriage  upon  her  with  one  or 
other  of  the  brothers.  M.  de  Foix  had  come  to  Encp- 
land  in  August,  to  talk  her  out  of  her  objections,  and 
had  returned  to  Paris  with  imperfect  success ;  but  the 
Council,  one  after  another,  impressed  upon  her  their 
conviction  that  she  ouo-ht  to  overcome  her  reluctance. 
Sir  Walter  Mildmay  spoke  of  it  as  "  the  weightiest 
cause  she  had  ever  had  in  hand  ; "  Sussex  trusted  that 
"  she  would  now  see  that  she  must  look  to  herself,  and 
make  France  sure  by  a  husband  ;  "  and  she  appeared 
so  far  moved  as  to  allow  Cecil  to  inform  Walsino-ham 
that  the  religious  difficulty  was  not  insuperable.  Wal- 
singham  consulted  De  Foix.  After  mature  considera- 
tion they  both  agreed  that  it  would  be  unwise  to 
"  wade  further  "  with  Anjou.  Elizabeth  "  might  find 
herself  forsaken,"  "  an  opinion  which  would  prove 
dangerous."  It  would  be  better  to  assume  that  neo-o- 
tiation  to  have  come  to  an  amicable  end,  and  "  to  hide 
tlie  imperfections  of  both  parties,  not  knowing  what 
would  follow."  1  Mary  Stuart's  intrigues  with  Spain, 
however,  had  created  a  violent  exasperation  at  the 
French  Court,  had  given  a  fresli  impulse  to  the  war 
party,  and  made  the  King  and  the  Queen  Mother  more 
anxious  than  ever  for  Elizabeth's  alliance.     To  all  en- 

1  Walsinghain  to  Cecil,  September  26  and  October  8 :  M!?S.  Fmnce. 


304  History  of  England.  [Ch.  xxii. 

treaties  to  send  help  to  Mary  Stuart  in  Scotland,  the 
King  now  returned  only  cold  denials.  The  Admiral 
was  sent  for  to  Paris  :  Catherine  de  Medici  took  him 
in  her  arms  and  kissed  him,  and  Charles  received  him 
as  if  among  his  subjects  there  was  not  one  whom  he  so 
much  honoured.^  The  Queen  Mother,  after  being  as- 
sured by  Walsingham  that  no  wanton  or  needless  ob- 
jections would  be  raised,  resolved  formally  to  propose 
Alen^on  in  the  place  of  his  brother ;  and  she  desired 
La  Mothe  to  tell  Elizabeth  that,  although  religious  dif- 
ferences had  interfered  with  the  marriage  which  she 
had  before  hoped  to  arrange,  she  had  another  son  who 
would  be  troubled  with  no  scruples.  Anjou  was 
seventeen  years  younger  than  the  Queen  of  England. 
Alen^on  was  two  years  younger  than  his  brother  ;  and 
De  Foix  feared  that  the  substitution  "  would  but  breed 
disdain  ;  "  but  Elizabeth  was  far  too  adroit  to  make  so 
poor  a  use  of  her  advantage.  Her  wish  was  to  escape 
marriage  but  secure  a  league  ;  and  the  effect  produced 
by  the  new  offer  was  to  make  her  pretend  to  an  ex- 
treme eagerness  for  the  marriage  with  Anjou,  which 
she  knew,  or  believed,  that  Anjou's  obstinacy  would 
make  impossible.  Leicester  echoed  the  Queen,  and 
made  a  parade  of  disinterestedness  :  he  declared  that 
he  as  well  as  his  mistress  were  now  aware  of  the  ne- 
essity  for  the  marriage,  and  that  all  concessions  should 
be  made  to  secure  it.^ 

1  La  Mothe  F^nelon  au  Roy,  September  30:  Depcches,  Vol.  IV.  La  Roy 
au  M.  de  la  Mothe  Fenelon,  October  20 :  Ibid.,  Vol.  VII. 

2  "  I  find  now  a  full  determination  in  her  Majesty  to  like  of  marriage, 
and  to  my  judgment  she  is  resolved  not  to  refuse  any  reasonable  conditions 
that  shall  be  offered  by  that  King  for  Monsieur.  So  she  earnestly  and 
assuredly  affirms  to  me,  and  would  have  you  signify  the  same,  with  all 
that  has  passed  about  it  hitherto,  by  some  discreet  messenger  to  the  Ad- 
miral, begging  him  to  forward  the  matter.  She  has  opened  her  mind 
partly  also  to  the  Count  Montgomery,  who  has  this  day  taken  his  leave  and 
is  departed  to  deal  with  the  Admiral."  —  Leicester  to  Walsingham,  Decem- 
ber 6 :  Digges. 


1571.]  Tlie  Reign  of  Elizabeth.  30-3 

The  manoeuvre  answered  the  purpose.  The  French 
Court   perhaps  desired  to  persuade  itself  of 

1  .  .  „  ,  ,  ^  NoTember. 

her  sincerity ;  lor  the  present  the  two  (jrov- 
ernments  appeared  every  day  to  be  drawing  closer 
together  ;  and  the  prospect  of  interference  from  France 
in  behalf  of  Mary  Stuart  was  more  remote  than  ever. 
A  regret  may  be  permitted  only  that  Elizabeth  had  so 
slight  a  sense  of  the  obligations  of  her  position,  and  so 
small  a  capacity  for  self-sacrifice.  The  nation  had  rea- 
son to  congratulate  itself  that  the  Anjou  negotiations 
failed  :  but  Alengon  was  an  innocent  boy,  and  the  ridi- 
cule which  attaches  to  unequal  marriages  in  private 
life  has  no  place  in  marriages  of  state.  Although  it 
must  remain  uncertain  whether  the  infernal  bigotry 
which  burst  loose  in  the  following  year  in  Paris  could 
have  been  held  under  effective  restraint,  yet  those  who 
saw  that  crisis  coming  upon  them  believed  at  the  time 
that  by  the  marriage  of  the  Queen  of  England  with 
one  of  these  Princes,  and  by  that  alone,  fetters  would 
have  been  foro;ed  of  sufficient  strength  to  bind  it.  The 
attention  of  the  people  would  have  reverted  to  the  old 
current ;  national  enthusiasm  would  have  taken  the 
place  of  religious  bigotry  ;  and  France  and  England, 
linked  together  by  a  stronger  bond  than  words,  would 
have  freed  the  Netherlands  from  Spain.  The  Catholic 
States  of  Germany  could  have  been  swept  into  the 
stream  of  the  Reformation,  and  Europe  might  have 
escaped  the  thirty  years'  war,  and  the  Revolution 
of  '89. 

If  it  be  supposed  that  public  interest,  however  great, 
could  not  have  recjuired  the  Queen  to  devote  her  per- 
son and  haj)pinoss  in  a  union  which  she  disliked,  there 
is  no  excuse  for  the  false  and  foolish  triflino;  which  ex- 
hausted   the  patience    and    irritated    the  pride    of  the 

VOL.   X.  20 


306  History  of  England.  [Ch.  xxir. 

Royal  family  of  France,  and  weakeTied  the  already  too 
feeble  barriers  which  were  keeping  back  the  tide  of 
Catholic  fury. 

The  reader  will  always  turn  with  pleasure  from 
Ehzabeth's  matrimonial  insincerities.  At  home  she 
submitted  more  entirely  to  Cecil's  guidance,  and  thus 
bore  herself  with  a  dignity  and  a  wisdom  more  becom- 
ing in  an  English  sovereign. 

It  appeared  beyond  doubt  that  the  body  of  the  Peers 
had  in  various  degrees  been  parties  to  the  Ridolfi  con- 
spiracy. Many  causes  had  been  at  work  among  them 
—  some  were  Catholic,  some  semi-Catholic,  whose  dif- 
ferences wath  Rome  were  merely  political  ;  and  deeper 
with  most  of  them  than  any  religious  feeling  was  the 
dread  of  a  disputed  succession.  They  had  examined, 
and  had  not  dared  to  challenge,  the  proofs  which  con- 
nected Mary  Stuart  with  the  Kirk-a-Field  tragedy ; 
but  excuses  could  not  be  wanting  where  there  was  a 
wish  to  find  them.  The  Queen  of  Scots  was  young, 
she  had  been  led  away  ;  others  were  as  guilty  as  she 
was  ;  and,  guilt  or  no  guilt,  the  sacred  blood  of  the 
Plantagenets  was  in  her  veins,  and  she  M^as  next  of 
kin  to  the  Crown.  As  Elizabeth  refused  to  marry  and 
refused  to  name  a  successor,  they  had  passed  from  dis- 
content to  treason.  They  had  meditated  an  open  re- 
bellion, which  all  elements  of  dissatisfaction  —  civil, 
social,  political,  and  religious  —  had  united  to  stimu- 
late, and  they  had  invited  a  foreign  Power  to  assist 
them  in  overthrowing  the  Queen's  Government  and 
the  liberties  of  their  country  at  a  single  blow.  A 
scheme'of  the  same  kind  had  been  formed  in  the  past 
generation  by  the  Marquis  of  Exeter,  the  Nevilles, 
Lady  Salisbury,  and  her  traitor  sons.  Elizabeth's 
father,  supported  by  the  hearty  confidence  of  the  peo- 


1571.]  ,         The  Reign  of  Elizabeth.  307 

pie,  had  called  the  -whole  nation  under  arms,  and  had 
struck  the  heads  of  the  chief  conspirators  from  their 
shoulders  before  their  projects  were  matured.  The 
position  of  the  present  Government  was  far  more  pre- 
carious. The  progress  of  the  revolution  had  fostered 
a  crop  of  discontents  which  then  were  in  their  germ. 
The  Catholics  throughout  all  Europe  had  recovered 
from  the  paralysis  into  which  they  had  been  thrown 
by  the  first  burst  of  the  Reformation.  A  general 
spirit  of  disloyalty  had  penetrated  every  section  of  so- 
ciety :  the  leaders  were  arrested,  but  a  sullen  danger- 
ous humour  was  abroad,  in  the  North  especially,  which 
at  anv  moment  mio-ht  break  acrain  into  flame  ;  ^  and, 
since  Pembroke's  death,  Elizabeth  had  no  one  in  her 
Council  who  could  be  relied  on  to  command  in  the 
field  with  any  general  sympathy  from  the  country. 
Her  ministers  were  chiefly  civilians  who  had  risen  from 
the  ranks  with  the  new  order  of  thino;s.  Leicester 
was  detested  and  despised,  and  was  half  a  traitor  to 
boot ;  Bedford  was  in  bad  health ;  Bacon  was  a  mere 
lawyer;  Cecil  was  infinitely  able  and  infinitely  popular 
M'ith  tlie  Protestants  ;  but  he  was  not  a  soldier,  and  by 
the  Catholics  he  was  as  much  hated  as  Cromwell  had 
been.  If  it  came  to  blows  it  miolit  well  be  doubted 
whether  men  like  these  could  hold  their  ground  against 
the  retainers  of  the  hereditary  English  chiefs,  around 
whose  persons  was  concentrated  the  traditional  loyalty 
of  centuries.  Such  men  as  Norfolk  and  Arundel  were 
as  sovereigns  in  their  own  counties.  To  the  Howards 
and  Fitzalans  the  Tudors  themselves  were  but  the 
mushroom    growth    of  yesterday ;    and  to  attempt   to 

1  "  The  people  have  been  put  in  comfort  of  a  change,  and  now  they 
stand  but  tooking  for  one  that  would  say  Hisse.  These  counties  are  most 
apt  to  evil,  as  where  tlu'  practisiiiK  I'a|)ists  have  most  their  convuntic-Ies." 
Thomas  Ashton  of  Shrewsbury  to  Uurgiiley,  October  %i:  MSS.  Dmnvslic. 


308  History  of  England.  [Ch.  xxii. 

crush  treason  by  force  when  the  leading  nobles  were 
at  the  head  of  the  conspiracy,  was  only  one  degree  less 
dangerous  than  to  pass  it  over  unpunished. 

Norfolk  was  the  chief  offender.  Norfolk  was  the 
intending  husband  of  the  Queen  of  Scots.  Norfolk 
had  friven  the  commission  to  Ridolfi,  and  his  crime  was 
surrounded  with  every  circumstance  of  ignominy  and 
dishonour.  He,  an  English  nobleman,  had  pledged 
his  word  to  his  sovereign,  deliberately  meaning  to 
break  it.  Calling  himself  a  Catholic  to  the  Pope,  he 
had  sued  for  a  dispensation  to  conceal  his  creed  the 
better  to  betray  the  Protestants  who  trusted  him. 
For  the  fanatic  who  conceives  that  he  has  a  duty  to 
God  which  supersedes  his  earthly  allegiance,  some 
kind  of  respect  is  not  impossible  —  but  no  plea  of  relig- 
ion can  take  the  stain  out  of  treachery.  Nor  among 
Norfolk's  many-sided  protestations  was  it  easy  to  dis- 
tinguish truth  from  falsehood.  He  was  a  Catholic  to 
the  Pope  and  the  King  of  Spain  ;  while  he  swore  to 
Elizabeth  and  Buro;hlev  that  he  would  be  sooner  torn 
with  horses  than  forsake  the  faith  in  which  he  had 
been  brought  up.  Which  were  his  real  convictions, 
or  whether  he  possessed  any  real  convictions,  remains 
after  all  uncertain.  With  Arundel,  Southampton, 
Lumley,  and  the  Stanleys,  both  prudence  and  a  natu- 
ral disinclination  to  severity  induced  Elizabeth  to  pause. 
Norfolk  she  determined  to  bring  to  trial.  A  commis- 
sion was  appointed  to  revise  the  evidence  against  him 
and  draw  up  his  indictment.  The  exposure  of  his 
falsehood  would,  it  might  be  hoped,  compel  even  the 
unwilling  Peei's  for  very  shame  to  admit  his  guilt. 
Meantime  there  was  another  ambassador  whose  com- 
plicity came  out  with  no  less  clearness  than 
that  of  the  Bishop  of  Ross.     Doctor  Man  had 


1571.]  Tlie  Reign  of  Elizabeth.  S09 

been  dismissed  with  scanty  courtesy  from  Madrid  ;  Sir 
Henry  Cobliam  had  been  received  by  Phihp  with 
studied  insolence.  There  was  an  opportunity  for  re- 
paying the  Spanish  Court  in  kind,  and  ridding  Eng- 
land of  a  minister  whose  residence  had  been  one  con- 
tinued plot  against  the  throne.  Don  Guerau  was  sum- 
moned before  the  Council.  He  was  told  that  his  prac- 
tices had  been  discovered  :  in  the  three  years  which  he 
had  been  in  England  he  had  never  ceased  to  trouble 
the  quiet  of  the  realm  ;  the  Queen  would  no  longer 
endure  his  pi-esence,  and  he  must  be  gone  without 
delay. ^  Don  Guerau,  savage  with  disappointment, 
turned  on  Burghley,  and  said  he  was  the  cause  of  all 
the  unkindness  between  his  master  and  the  Queen. 
But  Burghley  was  now  supreme  again.  The  order 
was  coldly  repeated,  and  he  was  allowed  four  days  to 
prepare  for  departure. 

There  were  two  sides  to  the  question.  The  Am- 
bassador, looking  back  over  the  history  of  the  same 
three  years,  miglit  well  believe  that  the  balance  of 
right  was  in  his  own  and  in  his  master's  favour.  He 
knew,  better  than  Elizabeth  herself,  the  reluctance 
with  which  the  King  of  Spain  had  accepted  the  quarrel 
which  had  been  forced  upon  him,  and  the  earnestness 
with  which  he  had  resisted  the  importunities  of  the 
Court  of  Rome  and  his  own  subjects.  His  coasts  had 
been  plundered,  his  commerce  destroyed,  his  colonies 
outraged  by  English  desperadoes,  in  whose  adventures 
the  Queen  herself  was  an  interested  shareholder.  The 
seizure  of  his  treasure  at  Plymouth  and  Southampton 
was  an  act  of  jiiracy  on  a  gigantic  scale,  committed  by 
the    Govennnent    itself     The    Enjilish    harb(jurs   had 

1  Words  to  be  Baid  to   the  Spanish  Ambassador,  December  14:  MSH. 
Spain. 


810  History  of  England.  [Ch.  xxii. 

been  the  home  of  the  Dutch  privateer  fleet ;  ships  built 
in  England,  armed  in  England,  and  manned  by  Eng- 
lishmen, had  held  the  Channel  under  the  flag  of  the 
Prince  of  Orange ;  and  if  Alva  attempted  to  interfere 
with  them  they  were  sheltered  by  English  batteries. 
Their  plunder  was  sold  openly  in  the  markets,  the 
royal  purveyors  being  occasional  purchasers ;  and 
Dover  had  been  made  a  second  Algiers,  where  Span- 
ish gentlemen  had  been  set  up  in  chains  for  public 
auction.  The  King  of  Spain  might  have  held  himself 
free  in  equity  from  all  obligations  to  a  Government 
which  set  at  nauo;ht  the  usages  of  civilised  nations : 
and  Don  Guerau  could  have  seen  no  sin  in  endeavour- 
ing to  bring  into  power  the  old  nobility,  the  hereditary 
friends  of  the  House  of  Burgundy.  The  legitimate 
remedy  however  was  open  war,  and  Philip  and  his 
councillors  had  stained  their  honour  and  their  cause  by 
preferring  the  assassin's  dagger.  To  the  same  ill  re- 
source the  Ambassador,  now  at  his  last  extremity, 
applied  himself.  The  mine  which  had  been  dug  and 
loaded  so  carefully  had  been  discovered  and  harmlessly 
sprung ;  the  excommunicated  Queen,  the  insolent 
Burghley,  the  heretics,  and  the  buccaneers,  had  once 
more  triumphed ;  Norfolk  was  to  be  tried  for  his  life  ; 
the  experienced  Spaniard  could  not  hope  tliat  the 
Queen  of  Scots  would  be  spared ;  he  was  himself  or- 
dered away  in  disgrace,  yet  one  bold  stroke  might 
repair  everything.  Cecil  —  the  false,  lowborn,  but 
most  dexterous  Cecil ;  the  arrogant  islander  who  be- 
lieved that  England  united  might  defy  the  power  of 
the  whole  world  ^  —  Cecil  was  the  soul  of  Elizabeth's 
government :   were  Cecil  gone  all  might  yet  be  saved. 

1  "  Hombre  de  baja  gente,  astuto,  falso,  mentiroso,  y  lleno  de  todo  en- 
gafio,  grande  herege,  y  tan  vafio  Ingles  que  cree  todos  los  Priacipes  Chris- 


1571.]  Tlie  Reign  of  Elizabeth.  311 

In  times  of  civil  commotion  there  are  never  wanting 
persons  who,  under  tlie  influence  of  vanity,  are  ready 
for  the  most  desperate  enterprises.  There  were  pres- 
ent in  London,  and  known  to  the  Spanish  Ambassador, 
two  joung  gentlemen  from  Norwich  named  Berney 
and  Mather,  who,  after  drifting  about  Europe  in  vari- 
ous services,  had  come  to  England  to  take  part  in  the 
rebellion.  Kenelm  Berney  liad  gone  abroad  to  escape 
justice  for  some  previous  murder.  Mather  had  been 
secretary  successively  to  Sir  Henry  NoitIs  and  to  Sir 
N.  Throo-morton  in  France.  His  father  was  a  mer- 
chant  in  good  circumstances  :  he  had  himself  glittered 
about  courts,  pushing  himself  by  all  ways  into  notori- 
ety, and  with  such  a  hunger  for  what  he  called  fame 
that,  as  one  of  his  brother  secretaries  said  of  him,  "  he 
could  content  himself  Avith  nothing  less  than  shaking  a 
kinodom."  ^  On  a  smaller  scale  he  resembled  Thomas 
Stukely,  and  like  Stukely  had  thought  of  Ireland  as  a 
field  for  his  ambition,  when  the  Ridolfi  conspiracy  came 
in  his  way  and  gave  him  the  opportunity  for  which  he 
was  looking. 

Being  Berney's  fellow-townsman,  and  knowing  him 
to  be  ready  with  his  hand,  he  sent  for  him  from 
France,  and  the  two  friends  were  looking  about  them 
for  some  means  of  employing  their  talents.  Like  the 
rest  of  the  Catholics,  tiiey  bewailed  the  misfortune 
which  had  placed  so  poor  a  creature  as  the  Duke  of 
Norfolk  at  their  head.^     As  time  passed  on  and    the 

tianos  no  ser  parte  por  hacer  dano  al  Sefior  de  aquella  Isia;  este  trae  la 
massa  de  los  negocioiJ,  en  los  quales  con  gran  diligencia  y  astucia  y  con  no 
tener  fe  ny  jialubra,  crei^  sobrepusar  a  torlos  los  otms  ministros  dc  I'rincipes, 
y  en  parte  hasalido  hasta  ahora  con  su  intcnto."  —  Uelacion  dada  por  Don 
Gueraude  Espes:  ^l/<S'.  Simnucds. 

1  to  Sir  William  Fitzwilliam,  March  5,  1572:  3fSS.  Ireland. 

2  '■  Mather,  sitting  by  the  lire  side,  said   tlie  Duke  was  a   beast  and  a 
coward  that  when  he  was  in  his  country  he  did  not  talic  ai'ms.     Then  he 


812  History  of  England.  [Ch.  xxii. 

chances  of  insurrection  grew  fainter,  Mather  became 
restless  and  impatient,  and  accident  or  intention 
brought  him  in  contact  with  the  Itahan  Secretary  of 
the  Spanish  Ambassador  named  Borghesi,  who  had 
perhaps  been  ordered  to  look  out  for  a  fit  person  for 
Don  Guerau's  purpose.  Alva  had  pointed  to  Eliza- 
beth as  the  mark  to  be  aimed  at ;  but  Elizabeth  was 
difficult  to  get  at,  and  Don  Guerau  had  come  to  think 
the  Queen  was  but  the  cipher  to  which  Burghley  was 
the  governino;  number.  One  night  in  the  autumn 
Borghesi  brought  in  Mather  to  his  master,  and  the 
Ambassador  receiving  him  as  a  Catholic  gentleman 
who  would  sympathise  in  the  general  disappointment, 
began  to  talk  of  Scotland,  and  the  noblemen  in  the 
Tower,  and  Burghley  and  Burghley's  policy.  Burgh- 
ley, he  said,  "  held  the  helm  and  did  all  in  all ;  "  and 
then  with  a  glance  at  his  guest  exclaimed,  "  Men  must 
all  die,  and  a  noble  death  is  better  than  a  shameful 
life.  Oh  for  some  man  of  spirit  who  Avould  kill  that 
wretch  and  cut  him  in  pieces !  "  ^ 

The  fire  was  thus  lighted,  and  Borghesi  as  Mather 
left  the  house  threw  fresh  fuel  upon  it.  "  It  was  a 
fine  thing  to  die  sword  in  hand,"  he  said  ;  "  and  if 
Burghley  was  taken  away,  all  would  go  well."  Mather 
asked  him  if  he  thouo;ht  it  could  be  done  :  Borcfhesi  said 
that  a  resolute  man  could  do  it  with  ease,  "  Then," 
cried  Mather,  "  I  will  do  some  service  to  the  com- 
mon cause,  or  it  shall  cost  me  mv  life."  ^     He  went 

might  have  married  the  Scotch  Queen  and  have  altered  the  State."  —  Con- 
fession of  Kenehn  Berney :  Murdin. 

1  The  Ambassador  said,  "  Perche  un  huomo  ha  da  morire,  h  raeglio 
prender  una  honorata  morte  che  vivere  una  vituperiosa  vita.  Bisogna  che 
qualche  huomo  di  spirito  ammazza  e  taglia  in  pezzi,"  adjoining  thereto  an 
injurious  word,  "poltrono." — Confession  of  Mather,  January  8:  MSS. 
Hatfield. 

2  Confession  of  Mather,  January  8 :  MS.  Ibid. 


1572.]  The  Reiijn  of  Elizabeth.  313 

home  to  his  companion  swelHng  with  hope  and  pride, 
and  together  they  sat  into  the  night  talking  of  "  how 
good  it  was  to  have  a  name  and  die  fiimous."     They 
reminded  one  another  of  PoUrot  and  Bothwellhaugh, 
and  of  the  mean  men  who  governed  Enghand,  while 
sparks  of  metal  like  themselves  were  passed  by  with- 
out employment.     Regicide  in  some  aspects  presented 
the    most  temptation.      "  To   kill   a   sovereign    would 
make  their  fame  immortal."     "  The  Queen's  Beefs  " 
were  poor   creatures,  Avhom  a   handful  of  determined 
men  could  easily  dispatch,  and  the  rest  of  the  house- 
hold were  "  perfumed  minions  such  as  the  vile  woman 
kept   about    her   to   feed   her   fantasy."  ^      But    Don 
Guerau  kept  them  to  the  easier  and  in  his  eyes  no  less 
important  business  of  killing  Cecil  ;  and  to  this  they 
addressed  themselves.     The  four  days'  grace  allowed 
Don  Guerau  were  for  some  cause  extended,  and  gave 
him  the  chance  of  staying  in  England  till  the  deed  was 
done.     Three  times  in  the  first  week  in  January  the 
assassins  were  lurking  in  the  garden  of  Cecil  House 
where  Burghley  was  accustomed  to  walk.     They  ob- 
served his  study  window  and  the  ])Osition  of  his  head 
when  he  sat  at  work    as   a    mark  for   a    blunderbus. 
Horses  were  kept  saddled  on  both  sides  of  the  Thames, 
and  a  boat   lay    ever   ready  at  the  stairs  at  Charing 
Cross.     Yet  day  passed  after  day  and  Cecil  still  lived, 
and  it  seemed  as  if  Chapin  Vitelli  had  rightly  judged 
the  EnMisli  character.     Some  disease  of  conscience  or 
want  of  boldness  in  a  bad  cause  made  Englishmen  the 
worst  cons[)irators  in  the  world.     The  ])re])arations  for 
flight  reciuired  confederates,  and  one  of  them, 

^  '  ...  January. 

perhaps  Mather  himself  in  an  interval  of  re- 

1  ConfesBion  of  Mather,  January  8 :  MSS.  IJalfieM. 


314  History  of  England.  [Ch.  xxii. 

morse,  wrote  to  Cecil  to  put  him  on  his  guard.^  The 
warning  brought  no  information  to  the  intended  vic- 
tim. He  had  already  discovered  what  it  told  him,  for 
his  own  traitorous  agent  of  the  Marshalsea,  Herle,  had 
found  his  way  among  the  confederates.  They  had  a 
week  in  which  they  might  have  done  their  work,  but 
they  let  it  pass,  and  it  was  then  too  late.  Cecil  calmly 
watched  them  till  he  had  the  clue  in  his  hands  to  all 
their  proceedings  ;  and  then  a  company  of  the  City 
Guard  dropped  upon  the  nest,  and  Mather,  Berney, 
and  their  friends  were  transferred  to  the  Tower  dun- 
geons. The  Spanish  Ambassador  had  been  forced  to 
leave  London  before  their  capture,  but  lie  had  lingered 
at  Canterbury  under  pretence  of  waiting  for  letters 
from  the  Duke  of  Alva ;  and  on  him  too  the  ever-pres- 
ent eye  was  fixed,  penetrating,  when  least  he  dreamed 
of  it,  into  his  inmost  secrets.  Sir  John  Hawkins,  who 
was  still  in  the  eyes  of  Philip  and  his  ministers  the 
faithful  servant  of  Holy  Church  and    the    Queen   of 

1  Mather  claimed  to  have  been  the  writer  after  his  arrest,  perhaps  to  save 
his  life,  as  he  could  feel  satisfied  that  no  one  would  come  forward  to  dispute 
his  pretensions.  The  letter  itself  is  at  Hatfield,  written  in  a  bold  remarka- 
ble hand,  and  endorsed  by  Cecil,  "  A  letter  brought  by  the  post  in  Londoii." 
It  was  addressed,  "To  my  Lord  of  Bourlay  at  the  Court  in  haste."  The 
contents  were  as  follows :  — 

"  My  Lord,  —  Of  late  I  have  upon  discontent  entered  into  conspiracy 
with  some  others  to  slay  your  Lordship,  and  the  time  appointed.  A  man 
with  apertitt  hand  attended  you  three  several  times  in  your  garden  to  have 
slain  your  Lordship.  The  which  not  falling  out  and  continuing  in  the 
former  mischief,  the  height  of  j'our  study  window  is  taken  towards  the 
garden,  minding  if  they  miss  these  means  to  slay  you  with  a  shot  upon  the 
terrace,  or  else  in  coming  late  from  the  Court  with  a  pistolet.  And  being 
touched  with  some  remorse  in  so  bloody  a  deed,  in  discharge  of  my  con- 
science before  God,  I  warn  your  Lordship  of  their  evil  and  desperate  mean- 
ing, and  would  further  declare  their  whole  meaning  if  I  should  not  be  noted 
of  infidelity,  being  so  near  and  dear  to  me  as  thev  are.  For  the  thanks  I 
deserve  I  shall,  I  doubt  not,  best  receive  them  hereatter  at  your  hands  at 
more  convenient  time  when  these  storms  are  past ;  but  lastly,  I  require  your 
Lordship,  in  God's  name,  to  have  care  of  your  safety." 


1572.]  TJie  Beign  of  Elizaheth.  815 

Scots,  was  sent  with  Sir  Francis  Knolljs  to  take  charge 
of  him  as  far  as  Calais.  He  persuaded  the  Ambassa- 
dor that  he  had  duped  Cecil  into  giving  him  the  ap- 
pointment that  he  might  be  of  use  to  his  Catholic 
friends,  and  the  harassed  Don  Guerau  opened  his 
heart  to  Hawkins  in  return.^ 

1  The  following  letter,  written  by  Don  Guerau  from  Canterbury  to  Philip, 
shows,  besides  its  general  interest,  how  entirely  he  was  free  from  suspicion 
of  Hawkins's  treacherj- :  — 

'^  The  Queen  and  Council,  or  rather  the  Lord  Burghley  who  alone  rules 
all,  sent  a  secretary  to  tell  me  I  must  leave  London  on  Christmas  Eve, 
alluding  repeatedly  with  suthcient  discourtesy  to  our  treatment  of  Doctor 
Man.  I  said  what  I  thought  necessary,  but  I  was  obliged  to  comply.  I 
waited  nine  or  ten  days  at  Gravesend,  where  I  was  joined  by  Hawkins  and 
Fitzwilliam,  who  came  with  orders  from  the  Queen  to  see  me  across  to 
Calais.  Hawkins,  who  is  sincerely  anxious  to  serve  your  Majesty,  is  of 
great  use  tome  — far  ditierent  from  Knollys,who  is  an  accursed  heretic  and 
communicates  daily  by  post  wth  the  Lord  Burghley.  The  Queen  means 
to  try  the  Duke  of  Norfolk  at  once,  and  that  is  the  cause  of  my  being  sent 
with  so  much  ha?te  out  of  the  country.  I  have  said  that  without  permis- 
sion from  your  Majesty  or  the  Duke  of  Alva  I  will  not  go  unless  I  am 
forced.  So  that  I  am  still  here,  the  posts  flying  to  and  fro,  and  Burghley 
insisting  that  I  am  making  excuses  for  remaining.  This  gentleman  is  so 
frightened  that  nothing  can  reassure  him.  He  has  received  threatening 
letters,  and  he  tells  the  Queen  that  if  I  am  in  England,  during  the  trial, 
the  coimtry  will  not  be  safe.  The  Queen  means  to  sell  all  projjerty  of  ours 
which  is  in  her  hands.  The  owners  may  have  it  at  the  price  at  which  it 
will  be  valued.  If  your  Majesty  or  the  Duke  of  Medina  will  send  com- 
missioners with  unlimited  powers  something  may  be  done;  but  the  sale  at 
all  events  will  go  forward.  It  is  all  done  in  contempt  of  your  Majesty; 
and  if  this  league  with  France  come  to  anything,  they  will  deal  even  worse 
with  us.  Messengers  pass  every  hour  between  Paris  and  London  ;  and  that 
King  has,  without  doubt,  otfered  to  make  an  alliance,  offensive  and  de- 
fensive, with  England.  The  details  only  remain  to  be  settled.  Walsing- 
ham  writes  everything  to  Hawkins,  and  Hawkins  tells  it  to  me  and  shews 
nie  the  Council's  letters.  The  thing  is  at  present  incomplete,  and  it  may 
be  prevented  yet  if  liis  Holiness  will  exert  himself.  If  not,  means  must  be 
found  to  prevent  the  English  from  getting  good  by  it.  It  is  said  here  that 
the  King  of  France  gave  mone}'  secretlj'^  to  Lord  Fleming  to  be  used  in  the 
defence  of  Edinburgh,  not  wishing  to  offend  his  old  friends  among  the  Scots 
till  he  has  made  sure  of  this  Queen. 

"  Situated  as  I  am,  and  with  so  many  eyes  upon  me,  I  shall  not  be  able 
to  communicate  at  present  with  the  prisoners  in  the  Tower,  but  I  will  take 
care  that  they  shall  soon  know  that  they  have  a  friend  in  your  Majesty. 


316  History  of  England.  [Ch.  xxil. 

Thus  all  parties  to  the  Intended  murder,  the  instiga- 
tor and  the  instruments,  were  alike  in  Cecil's  hands  ; 
and  one  morning,  while  the  Ambassador  was  still  put- 
ting off  his  departure  in  the  hope  of  hearing  great 
news  from  Mather,  he  was  confounded  by  an  intima- 
tion from  Sir  Francis  Knollys  that  a  conspiracy  had 
been  discovered,  and  that  his  secretary's  presence  was 
required  in  London.  He  was  "  greatly  appalled,"  es- 
pecially when  he  was  told  further  that  Mather  had 
been  arrested  and  had  made  a  full  confession.  He 
tried  to  shield  Borghesi,  but  Knollys  gave  him  to  un- 
derstand that  the  man  was  wanted,  not  to  be  punished, 
but  only  to  answer  certain  questions.  Don  Guerau 
smiled  grimly ,i  complained  of  his  grievous  handling, 
and  submitted.  In  a  few  days  his  secretary  was  re- 
stored uninjured,  and  he  made  his  way  to  Brussels  to 
join  the  English  refugees  in  once  more  entreating  the 
Spanish  leader  to  move  before  it  was  too  late. 

The  Duke  of  Alva  was  most  unwilling  to  allow  him- 
self to  be  addressed  upon  the  subject,  fearing  perhaps 
that  it  would  injure  the  few  chances  of  life  which  re- 
mained to  the  unfortunate  Norfolk.  The  refugees 
pressed  to  be  heard,  however;  and  at  length  West- 
moreland, Egremont,  Radcliff,  Morley,  and  a  throng 
of  priests  were  admitted  to  an  audience,  with  the  Count- 
ess of  Northumberland  at  their  head,  and  presented 
their  petition.^ 

Meantime,  we  must  look  to  those  of  our  party  who  are  still  at  liberty  and 
learn  their  intentions. 

"  As  soon  as  I  am  out  of  this  country  I  will  write  at  length  to  your  Maj- 
esty of  all  which  I  think  may  be  done,  and  by  what  means,  in  case  of 
rupture  with  the  French,  we  may  transfer  the  war  hither." 

1  "  He  smiled  somewhat,  although  it  seemed  to  be  risus  Sardonicus  mixed 
with  some  fear."  —  Sir  F.  Knollys  to  Burghley,  January  16:  MS^.  Spain. 

2  Sanders,  in  a  letter  to  the  Earl  of  Northumberland,  says  that  "  the 
Countess  was  forced  to  press  upon  the  Duke's  Grace  even  against  his  will." 
MSS.  Flanders. 


1572.]  Tlie  Reign  of  Elizabeth.  SIT 

It  was  the  old  storj  of  persecution  and  tyranny. 
Alva's  opinion  of  the  English  Catholics,  never  favour- 
able at  best,  was  at  its  lowest  ebb.  Elizabeth  still 
lived  —  Burghley  still  lived  —  and  none  of  those  con- 
fident boasters  had  had  the  courage  to  remove  them 
out  of  his  path.  Had  they  been  unanimous,  under  the 
existincr  circumstances  he  would  have  been  deaf  to 
their  remonstrances.  His  unwillingness  at  that  mo- 
ment was  encouraged  by  Leonard  Dacres  and  his 
friends,  whose  hate  for  Norfolk  reconciled  them  to  the 
probabiUty  of  his  execution,  and  who  were  persuading 
Alva  to  lend  them  troops  and  money  for  an  expedition 
to  Scotland.^  The  Duke  replied  with  cold  courtesy 
that  he  was  a  servant,  and  could  not  act  without  his 
master's  orders  ;  and  the  unfortunates,  unable  to  part 
with  their  cherished  hopes,  —  unable  to  understand 
how  a  conquest  which  every  one  but  lately  had  imag- 
ined to  be  so  easy  should  have  suddenly  become  im- 
possible, —  carried  their  supplications  to  Philip. 

"  They  had  insisted  from  the  beginning,"  they  said, 
"  that  there  would  be  no  quiet  in  Flanders  till  England 
was  again  Catholic,  and  events  had  proved  that  they 
were  right.  The  country  was  distracted.  The  Queen 
was  despised  as  a  '  harlot,'  and  hated  for  the  obstinacy 
with  which,  in  refusing  to  allow  the  succession  to 
be  settled,  she  exposed  her  subjects  to  the  chances  of 
civil  war  at  her  death.  Should  the  Queen  of  England 
be  deposed  and  killed,  she  had  no  heirs  to  avenge  her 

1  "  Leonard  Dacres  who,  as  it  is  reported  liketh  well  of  the  proceedings 
against  the  Duke  of  Norfolk,  hath  had  of  late  conferences  witli  the  Duke  of 
Alva.  It  is  said  he  hath  gotten  grant  of  three  thousand  men  well  apiiointed, 
which  shall  .shortly  be  conveyed  to  Scotland,  with  certain  gnat  pieces  of 
artillery  and  a  promise  of  so  much  money  as  shall  be  sufficient  to  pay  them 
during  three  months."  — John  Lee  to  Burghley,  February  4:  MSS.  Flan- 
dtra. 


318  History  of  Englaiid.  [Cn.  xxii. 

quarrel,  while  the  Queen  of  Scots  was  pitied,  and  loved, 
and  had  a  son  to  inherit  her  rights.  The  merchants 
were  furious  at  the  ruin  of  their  commerce  ;  Ireland 
was  disaffected  ;  and  in  England  there  was  not  a  for- 
tified port  or  an  experienced  soldier.  They  had  but 
to  land  with  the  King  of  Spain's  authority  for  the 
whole  people  to  flock  to  them.  The  Queen's  own 
troops  would  desert  her :  one  victory,  and  all  was  their 
own.  An  army  of  priests  would  go  back  with  them 
to  feed  their  starving  flocks  ;  and  as  Elizabeth  had 
made  Flanders  serve  her  turn,  so  Philip  might  make 
use  of  England.  There  was  needed  but  a  little  money 
and  a  little  courage,  and  the  King  might  provide  Don 
John  of  Austria  with  a  kingdom,  and  Spain  with  better 
neighbours.  He  might  crush  the  Flanders  rebels,  re- 
concile half  Europe  to  the  Church,  save  his  own  credit, 
and  restore  God  to  His  honour."  ^ 

1  Reasons  to  persuade  the  King  of  Spain  to  invade  England,  February, 
1572:  MSS.  Queen  of  Scots.  Don  Guerau  supported  the  petition  with  a 
memoir  which  he  had  inetFectually  submitted  to  the  Duke  of  Alva.  "Flan- 
ders," said  Don  Guerau,  •'  can  never  be  at  peace  till  the  Government  of 
England  is  changed.  Cecil  would  have  had  open  war  with  us  had  not  others 
on  the  Council  prevented  him.  He  seized  the  treasure  to  drive  our  amiv  into 
mutiny  for  want  of  their  pay  —  "  para  incommodar  quanto  fuese  posible  el 
pagamento  del  ejercito  a  Flandes."  He  encourages  the  pirates  in  plunder- 
ing our  commerce.  He  has  turned  the  restitution  treaty  to  smoke,  and  he 
is  now  at  work  at  an  alliance  with  France.  Cecil  rules  everj'thing.  The 
Council,  part  of  them,  have  good  intentions,  but  they  are  without  power. 
The  Queen  is  weak  and  timid.  She  dare  not  rule  her  Council.  The  Coun- 
cil rules  her,  and  Cecil  rules  the  Council.  They  insult  our  ministers;  they 
practise  with  our  rebels;  and  his  Majesty  has  so  long  borne  with  their  in- 
juries that  they  believe  now  that  he  dare  not  or  cannot  resist  them.  His 
Majesty  is  bound  to  rouse  himself.  His  interest  requires  that  the  Govern- 
ment of  England  be  in  friendly,  and  if  possible,  in  Catholic  hands;  for  the 
CathoHcs  will  hold  France  in  check  and  cease  to  trouble  Flanders.  The 
arrest  of  Norfolk  and  the  other  Lords  may  make  the  ditficulty  greater,  but 
if  the  Duke  lives  things  will  remain  as  they  are.  If  they  kill  him,  he  has  a 
son  who  is  growing  to  manhood,  and  the  others  are  too  numerous  to  be  made 
away  with.  Plymouth  may  be  taken  and  fortified  at  any  moment,  and  the 
King  has  but  to  say  the  word  for  Ireland  to  revolt."  —  Memoir  forwarded 
by  Don  Guerau,  February  8:  MS.  Simancas. 


1572.]  Tlie  Reign  of  Elizabeth.  319 

So  the  poor  Catholics  pleaded,  to  little  purpose. 
Philip  was  willing  to  help  them,  but  allowed  himself 
to  be  guided  by  Alva ;  and  Alva  had  not  the  slightest 
confidence  in  men  who  talked  as  if  England  was  at 
their  devotion,  yet  were  unable  to  set  foot  upon  its 
soil  unless  escorted  by  an  army  of  strangers.  It  Avas 
universally  believed  that  the  Queen  of  Scots  would 
now  be  executed  ;  and  Spain  would  not  move  to  save 
her.  The  appeals  of  the  Archbishop  of  Glasgow  to 
Charles  and  Catherine  were  equally  in  vain.  Mary 
Stuart's  head  would  be  a  cheap  price  for  the  English 
alliance,^  and  Walsingliam  prayed  that  Elizabeth  would 
see  her  opportunity  and  relieve  herself  and  her  coun- 
try of  that  dano-er  forever.^  Once  a^ain  Mary  Stuart's 
life  depended  on  the  resolution  of  Elizabeth  ;  and  if 
the  opinion  of  Don  Guerau  was  correct,  that  Elizabeth 
was  a  cipher  in  the  hands  of  Burghley,  the  best  grace 
she  had  to  look  for  was  a  priest  to  make  her  ready  for 
her  end. 

Norfolk's  turn  came  first,  however ;  and  with  him 
Burghley  could  write  that  "  the  Queen  would  deal 
more  substantially  than  many  did  imagine."  '^  Among 
the  Peers  by  whom  the  Duke  would  have  to  be  tried, 
many  would  inevitably  have  to  take  their  seats  as  his 
judges  who  were  in  heart  as  guilty  as  himself;  but 
care  was  taken  that  there  should  be  at  least  a  majority 

1  "  En  estos  "  (the  King  and  his  Queen  Mother)  "  no  halla  el  dicho  Em- 
bajador  amparo  ny  asistcncia  alfjuna,  aunqiie  le  dan  mil  esperunzas,  pero 
todo  son  mentiras,  dandole  a  entender  no  solamente  que  proveeran  esto  y 
otro,  pero  que  lo  han  ya  proveydo  y  halla  ser  todo  falso,  y  ya  no  sabe  que 
hacerse."  —  Secretario  Aguilon  a  Felipe  II''",  December  5:  Teulct,  Vol.  V. 

2  "  Surely  so  lonj?  as  that  devilisii  woman  liveth,  neither  her  Majesty 
mu.st  make  account  to  continue  in  quiet  possession  of  her  crown,  nor  her 
faithful  servants  assure  themselves  of  safety  of  their  lives.  God  open  her 
Majesty's  eyes  lo  sec  tliat  whicli  may  be  for  her  best  safety."  —  Walsing- 
ham  to  Cecil,  .laiiuary  -iO:    ,1/.S,S'.  Frnnre. 

<*  Burghley  to  Walsingliam,  December  7 :  Digges. 


320  History  of  England.  [Ch.  xxii. 

on  whose  loyalty  Elizabeth  could  depend.  Lord 
Shrewsbury  was  named  High  Steward  for  the  same 
reason  for  which  he  was  chosen  to  be  the  Queen  of 
Scots'  guardian.  Twenty-six  noblemen  formed  the 
Court  over  which  Shrewsbury  presided ;  and  in  the 
list  almost  every  Peer  was  included  who  had  been 
created  by  the  Queen,  or  owed  his  station  to  her  father 
and  the  Reformation.  Hertford,  who  for  two  years 
had  been  in  disgrace  and  forbidden  to  sit  in  Parliament, 
was  restored  to  his  honours.  Reginald  Grey,  the  rep- 
resentative of  the  ruined  family  of  Grey  de  Ruthyn, 
was  made  Earl  of  Kent  for  the  occasion  ;  ^  and  of  the 
Queen's  own  relations.  Lord  Hunsdon  alone  was  ab- 
sent, being  unable  to  leave  Berwick.^ 

The  occasion  was  extremely  critical.  With  a  shak- 
ing throne,  an  uncertain  people,  and  in  the  midst  of 
the  great  Catholic  reaction  which  was  threatening  all 
over  Europe  to  overwhelm  the  work  of  the  Reformers, 
it  was  no  light  matter  to  erect  again  a  court  of  treason, 
to  reopen  the  chapter  of  political  trials  and  executions, 
which  it  had  been  Elizabeth's  honourable  distinction  to 
have  hitherto  held  closed.  However  great  and  how- 
ever evident  were  Norfolk's  offences,  he  was  the  high- 
est English  subject,  and  the  crime  for  which  he  was  to 
be  brought  to  the  bar  was  no  crime  at  all  in  the  eyes 
of  half  the  nation.  To  leave  him  unpunished,  or  to 
try  him  and  to  fail  in  obtaining  a  verdict,  would  be 

1  "  La  Rejma  ha  creado  un  nuevo  Conde  de  Kent  para  tener  su  voto 
seguro."  —  Don  Guerau  to  Philip,  Januarj^  7:  AIS.  Simancas. 

2  The  Peers  who  tried  Norfolk  were  the  Earls  of  Shrewsbury,  Kent, 
Sussex,  Warwick,  Pembroke,  Worcester,  Huntingdon,  Bedford,  Hertford, 
Leicester,  Lords  Clinton,  Burghley,  Mountjoy,  Wentworth,  Mordaunt, 
Chandos,  St.  John  of  Bledsoe,  Hereford,  Howard  of  Effingham,  Grey  de 
Wilton,  Sandys,  Burgh.  St.  John,  Rich,  Norton,  Buckhurst,  and  Delawarre. 
Of  these,  Shrewsburj',  Worcester,  Clinton,  Mordaunt,  Howard,  Grey  de 
Wilton,  Sandys,  Burgh,  St.  John,  and  Rich  were  in  Ridolti's  list. 


1572.]  The  Reign  of  Elizabeth.  321 

equally  fatal.  To  prepare  the  way  with  the  public,  a 
compendious  account  of  the  conspiracy  and  its  discov- 
ery was  drawn  up  and  published ;  and  another  step  was 
taken  of  far  more  importance,  which,  though  too  long 
delayed,  was  still  in  time  to  be  of  use. 

As  careful  of  the  Queen  of  Scots'  honour  as  she  had 
been  careful  of  her  life,  Elizabeth  had  been  contented 
to  endure  the  misconsti'uction  of  Europe,  to  allow  a 
vague  belief  to  spread  that  the  evidence  produced 
against  her  at  Westminster  was  incomplete,  and  to  give 
her  a  chance  of  recovering  the  fair  fame  which  she  had 
so  foully  blotted. 

Elizabeth  had  not  only  refused,  against  the  advice  of 
her  wisest  ministers,  to  publish  the  story  in  her  own 
defence,  when  it  would  have  silenced  the  murmurs  of 
the  Catholic  Avorld,  but  she  had  forced  the  Scots  to 
suffer  also  the  disadvantage  of  a  doubtful  cause.  Now, 
at  length,  she  withdrew  her  prohibition.  A  narrative 
of  the  events  which  had  led  to  the  Queen  of  Scots' 
deposition  was  drawn  up  by  George  Buchanan.^  Ver- 
sions of  the  casket  letters  in  French  and  Latin  were 
attached  to  the  narrative,  and  the  whole  Mas  printed 
under  the  title  of  "  The  Detection  of  the  Doings  of 
Mary  Queen  of  Scots,  touching  the  Murder  of  her  Hus- 
band, and  her  Conspiracy,  Adultery,    and  Pretended 

1  The  vituperative  eloquence  which  has  been  poured  upon  Buchanan's 
"  Detectio  "  lias  failed  to  expose  a  single  serious  error  in  it,  and  in  tlio  few 
trifling  points  where  a  question  can  be  fairly  raised  upon  Buchanan's  ac- 
curacy, is  it  clear  that  the  fault  does  not  lie  after  all  in  the  inadequate  in- 
formation of  his  critics?  The  book  has  been  called  slanderous  from  the 
completeness  of  the  case  which  it  establishes.  The  scntimentalism  which 
cannot  tolerate  the  notion  of  the  Queen  of  Scots'  guilt  denounces  the  evi- 
dence against  her  as  forged.  But  to  denounce  is  not  to  prove.  The  ac- 
count which  was  now  published  was  the  deliberate  plea  of  Protestant  .Scot- 
land at  the  bar  of  Europe ;  and  as  the  passionate  aspect  of  the  story  gives 
place  to  calmer  consideration,  it  will  receive  at  last  the  authoritati\'e  posi- 
tion which  it  deserves. 

VOL.  X.  21 


322  History  of  England.  [Ch.  xxii. 

Marriage  with  the  Earl  Bothwell."  Copies  were  cir- 
culated in  Scotland,  England,  and  the  European  Courts. 
La  Mothe  complained  to  Elizabeth,  but  the  Queen 
declined  to  interfere. ^  She  had  shielded  the  Queen  of 
Scots  too  long  for  her  own  safety,  and  Mary  Stuart's 
mode  of  recognising  the  obligation  was  not  calculated 
to  encourage  her  to  persist  further.  Sir  Thomas  Smith, 
who  had  gone  to  Paris  to  assist  Walsingham  in  the  ne- 
gotiation  of  the  league,  explained  to  the  French  Coun- 
cil, that  the  time  for  forbearance  was  passed  ;  that  the 
English  Government  was  now  resolute  ;  and  that  if  the 
Queen  of  Scots  gave  any  more  trouble,  the  difficulties 
about  her  would  be  promptly  ended.^ 

1  Among  the  copies  sent  to  France  one  was  given  to  "  one  Montaigne  of 
Montpellier,"  supposed  then  to  be  writing  '  The  Universal  History  of  the 
Times."  —  Killegrew  to  Cecil,  January  10.  Montaigne  had  been  a  pupil 
of  Buchanan.  "  The  Universal  Story  "  was  perhaps  merged  in  the  work 
of  his  friend  De  Thou. 

2  "  I  was  fain  to  declare  unto  them  all  her  behaviour,  her  adulteries,  the 
killing  of  her  husband  twice  (if  it  might  be)  with  poison,  and  as  some  say 
strangling,  besides  fire  and  gunpowder,  the  shameful  marrying  of  her  adul- 
terer and  murderer  of  her  husband,  who  had  a  wife  living,  her  deposing  by 
the  nobility  and  Act  of  Parliament.  Yet  the  Queen's  Majesty  would  not 
believe  it,  but  had  it  heard  again  in  London;  and  though  the  thing  was 
too  manifest,  yet  for  respect  that  she  was  a  Queen  of  her  alliance,  her  Maj- 
esty would  not  condemn  her  and  would  not  absolve  her.  They  seemed  at 
last  so  persuaded  that  they  durst  not  deny  her  evil  deeds  and  deservings, 
but  because  she  was  married  here  and  of  parentage,  the  King  could  know 
no  other  King  nor  Queen  in  Scotland  but  her;  and  if  she  had  done  evil 
there  was  somewhat  to  be  borne  because  she  was  kept  so  long  in  prison. 

"  That  is  true,  quoth  I, 

"  Flectere  si  nequeo  Superos  Acheronta  movebo  ;  " 

but  if  the  Devil  be  called  to  help,  it  is  reason  she  has  the  Devil's  reward. 
In  sum,  rather  than  this  should  trouble  the  treaty,  or  the  realm  of  Scotland 
be  in  longer  dissention  for  this  cause,  or  the  Queen  my  mistress  should  not 
once  have  an  end  of  the  mischief  and  hurt  that  she  hath  hitherto  brought, 
I  know  one  expedient  that  shall  soon  make  an  end  of  this  debate.  Her 
Majest}'  shall  follow  the  advice  of  her  Council,  the  wise  men  of  her  realm. 
She  shall  take  her  head  from  her  shoulders  as  justly  she  may  do. 

"  This  appalled  them  so  much,  they  had  no  more  to  say  but  that  they 
thought  better  of  the  Queen's  clemency  and  gentleness  than  so,  although 
they  could  not  deny  that  the  Scotch  Queen  had  deserved  no  such  thing  at 


1572.]  The  Reign  of  Elizaheth.  323 

'Witli  these  precautions,  and  with  the  gauntlet  as  it 
were  flung  down  to  Catholic  Europe,  Westminster  Hall 
was  once  more  prepared  for  a  trial  for  High  Treason. 
On  the  16th  of  January,  at  half-past  eight  in  the 
morning,  Lord  Shrewsbury,  with  the  Peers,  Judges, 
and  Lords  of  the  Council,  took  their  places  ;  a  lane 
was  formed  through  the  crowd  at  the  lower  part  of 
the  hall,  and  the  Duke  was  led  in  between  the  Lieu- 
tenant of  the  Tower  and  Sir  Peter  Carew ;  the  Tower 
Chamberlain  following  with  the  axe  reversed. 

The  Duke  was  not  so  wholly  degenerate  but  that  in 
public  and  on  great  occasions  he  could  bear  himself 
in  a  manner  worthy  of  his  blood ;  as  he  came  forward 
to  the  bar  he  ran  his  eyes  rapidly  over  the  noblemen 
who  were  to  try  him,  bit  his  lip,  and  drew  himself 
haughtily  up. 

The  indictment  charged  him  with  conspiring  the 
deposition  and  death  of  the  Queen,  with  having  en- 
deavoured to  bring  foreign  armies  into  England,  to 
change  the  Government,  and  alter  the  religion  estab- 
lished in  the  realm  ;  with  having  sought  to  marry  the 
Queen  of  Scots,  knowing  that  she  laid  claim  to  the 
crown,  contrary  to  his  allegiance,  contrary  to  the 
Queen's  command,  and  in  violation  of  his  own  plighted 
word. 

In  detail,  he  was  accused  of  having  assisted  the 
rebels  who  had  fled  to  Scotland  after  the  late  insurrec- 
tion ;  of  having  in  the  March  preceding  sent  Ridolfi  to 
Rome,  to  Spain,  and  to  the  Duke  of  Alva,  to  concert 
measures  for  an  invasion  ;  and  of  himself  intending  to 
raise  a  fresh  rebellion  in  England.  He  had  corre- 
sponded since  Ilidolfi's  departure  both  with  him  and  the 

her  Majesty's  hands,  and  they  thought  litr  Kui'ty  of  ^i"  that  wa.s  laid  to  her 
charge."  —  Sir  T.  Smith  to  lUirghley,  January  17:  MSS.  France. 


824  Sutory  of  England.  [Ch.  xxii. 

Pope,  and  had  received  "  promises  of  help  and  assist- 
ance in  the  said  wicked  enterprise  for  the  setting  up 
of  the  said  Mary  late  Queen  of  Scots." 

The  Duke,  being  required  to  plead,  demanded  the 
assistance  of  counsel.  It  was  objected  that  in  cases  of 
high  treason  counsel  was  not  allowed ;  but  he  said  that 
the  indictment  was  complicated  ;  "  he  found  himself 
entangled  in  a  herd  of  laws,"  so  that  he  did  not  know 
to  what  he  was  to  answer  ;  and  he  referred  to  the 
trial  of  Sir  Humphrey  Stafford,  to  whom,  in  a  similar 
case,  the  indulgence  for  which  he  asked  had  been  con- 
ceded. 

Chief  Justice  Dyer  replied  that  the  precedent  was 
not  applicable  :  Stafford  had  been  taken  out  of  sanct- 
uary,^ and  counsel  had  been  heard  merely  on  the  ques- 
tion whether  the  protection  was  legitimately  violated. 

The  Duke,  with  a  slight  protest,  submitted  to  the 
judgment  of  the  Court,  and  enquired  whether  he  must 
plead  to  the  whole  indictment,  or  to  the  parts  of  it 
separately,  and  whether  all  the  offences  with  which  he 
was  charged  were  equally  treason. 

Dyer  said,  that  if  the  facts  were  proved,  each  and 
all  would  bring  him  within  the  compass  of  the  law. 

On  this  answer  the  Duke  said  he  was  Not  Guilty, 
and  would  be  tried  by  God  and  his  Peers  —  only,  he 
continued  —  addressing  himself  to  the  Lord  Steward, 
"  he  trusted  he  might  have  justice,  and  not  be  over- 
laid with  speeches.  Had  he  so  pleased,  he  needed  not 
to  have  been  standing  where  he  was  ;  but  he  had  pre- 
ferred  rather   to  abide  his  trial,  than  by  a  cowardly 

1  Ao  1.  Hen.  VII.  Stafford  and  his  brother  had  held  out  against  Henry 
VII.  for  a  few  months  after  Bosworth.  Finding  their  cause  hopelessly  lost, 
they  took  refuge  in  a  sanctuary  near  Abingdon,  from  which  they  were 
forcibly  removed  and  were  hanged  at  Tyburn. 


1572.]  The  Reign  of  Elizabeth.  325 

running  away  to  leave  a  gap  open  to  his  enemies  to 
slander  liira."  Trusting  to  the  absence  of  direct  proof 
against  him,  he  insisted  that  he  ought  not  to  be  pressed 
Avitli  circumstantial  evidence.  He  said  that  he  was 
unlearned  and  uneloquent,  and  that  his  memory  was 
weak.  He  was  ready  and  able  to  encounter  only 
special  charges  of  literal  treason. 

But  a  prisoner  was  not  to  be  allowed  to  dictate  the 
form  of  his  prosecution.  The  case  was  exceedingly 
elaborate,  involving  the  history  of  his  proceedings  from 
the  time  when  he  was  sent  as  Commissioner  to  York  ; 
and  tlie  story  is  too  well  known  to  the  reader  to  re- 
quire repetition.  It  is  enough  to  say,  that  the  Govern- 
ment was  acquainted  with  every  important  fact  in  the 
whole  of  it.  The  Duke  fought  over  every  detail,  with 
a  minuteness  which  showed  that  he  had  undervalued 
his  powers.  The  confession  of  the  Bishop  of  Ross  was 
read  to  him.  He  said  the  Bishop  was  a  false  Scot,  and 
cared  not  how  many  innocent  Englishmen  he  might 
bring  to  destruction.  He  was  reminded  of  his  prom- 
ise to  deal  no  more  with  the  Queen  of  Scots.  He 
could  not  deny  that  promise,  and  he  could  not  deny 
that  he  had  broken  it.  It  was  proved,  also,  that  after 
leaving  the  Court  in  Hampshire  he  had  listened  to  a 
])roposal  to  seize  the  Tower,  and  had  gone  down  to 
Norfolk  with  a  half-formed  intention  of  I'ebellion.^ 

1  Among  other  fragments  of  evidence  which  came  out  upon  tlie  trial,  it 
appeared  that  the  Dulte  had  been  playing  with  "a  blind  prophecy,"  some- 
thing like  Owen  Glendower's  "  clipwinged  dragon  and  liuless  fish."  The 
words  are :  — 

"  In  cxallatione  Lunse  Leo  surcnmbct,  ot  Leo  cum  Leone  conjungetur  et 
catuli  eonini  rcgiiubunt."     The  I)iike  had  interpreted  them  thus:  — 

"  At  the  exaltation  of  the  moon,  wiiieh  was  the  rising  of  the  Karl  of 
Northumberland,  '  the  Lion,'  the  Queen's  Majesty,  shall  be  overtlirown. 
Then  shall  the  Lion  be  joined  with  the  Lion — i.e.  the  Duke  of  Norfolk 
with  the  C^i'*'''"  'j'  Scotland,  for  they  both  bore  lions  in  their  arms,  and 
their  whelps  shall  reign."  —  Trial  of  the  Duke  of  Norfolk:  -Sto/u  TrUih, 
Vol.  I. 


326  History  of  England.  [Ch.  xxii. 

One  witness  only  was  produced  in  Court,  Lord 
Shrewsbury's  stepson,  Richard  Cavendish,  Leicester's 
agent  with  the  Queen  of  Scots,  who  finding  that  times 
were  changing,  turned  round  upon  his  fi'iends  and 
swore  that  the  Duke  had  told  him  beforehand  of  the 
intended  risino-  in  the  North. 

To  this  the  Duke  answered  that  Cavendish  was  a 
lying  slave  ;  but  the  conviction  was  left  upon  the  Court, 
and  as  the  reader  knows  with  entire  justice,  that  he 
was  aware  of  the  Earls'  purpose  and  at  least  had  not 
revealed  it. 

Ridolfi's  commission  came  nest.  To  those  who  have 
seen  what  that  commission  contained,  and  the  exqui- 
site baseness  which  it  revealed  in  Norfolk's  character, 
the  evidence  with  Avhich  the  portions  of  it  known  to 
the  Government  were  brought  home  to  him  can  have 
but  little  interest.  Either  treason  is  an  imaginary 
crime,  or  few  political  offenders  have  deserved  the  scaf- 
fold more  emphatically  than  the  Duke  of  Norfolk. 
The  commission  itself,  however,  never  reached  the 
Lands  of  the  Council.  They  knew  no  more  than  its 
general  purport,  the  sketch  of  it  contained  in  the  let- 
ters of  the  Queen  of  Scots  which  had  been  found  un- 
der the  mat,  and  as  much  as  could  be  learned  from 
the  confessions  of  the  secretaries  and  the  Bishop  of 
Ross.  The  Duke  denied  everything,  and  swore  that 
both  the  Bishop  and  his  secretaries  were  lying.  He 
was  asked  to  explain,  if  he  was  innocent,  the  letters 
which  he  had  written  to  them  from  the  Tower  entreat- 
ing them  not  to  confess.  He  was  of  course  silent. 
The  confessions  all  agreed,  and  not  a  doubt  remained 
that  the  troops  of  Alva  had  been  invited  with  the 
Duke's  consent  to  land  at  Harwich. 

Wilbi'aham,  the  Attorney  of  the  Wards,  who  was 


1572.]  TJie  Reign  of  Elizabeth.  327 

conducting  this  part  of  the  case,  used  the  opportunity 
to  touch  the  eternal  chord  of  Enghsh  national  pride. 

"  If  the  Duke  of  Norfolk  had  been  a  true  man," 
he  said,  "  and  angry  at  the  matter  as  he  now  pre- 
tendeth,  and  liad  done  his  duty,  though  they  had  come, 
these  Walloons,  they  might  have  been  so  beaten  of  the 
old  Enolish  fashion  as  thev  were  never  so  swinged  in 
their  lives." 

"  This  point,"  says  an  eyewitness,  "  Mr.  Attorney 
spoke  with  such  a  grace  and  cheerfulness  of  heart  and 
voice  as  if  he  had  been  readv  to  be  one  at  the  doino; 
of  it,  like  a  heartv  true  Enolishman,  a  g-ood  Christian, 
a  good  sul:)ject,  a  man  enough  for  his  religion,  prince, 
and  country." 

"  The  Duke,"  the  Attorney  continued,  with  less 
rhetoric  but  more  point  —  "  the  Duke  said  tliat  the 
witnesses  had  spoken  falsely,  but  their  evidence  had 
been  taken  separately  in  a  great  variety  of  complicated 
details,  and  it  was  all  entirely  consistent.  Of  what 
vahie,  on  tlie  other  side,  was  the  Duke's  assertion  ? 
He  had  broken  his  oath  as  Commissioner  at  York,  he 
had  broken  his  promise  to  the  Queen,  he  had  denied 
in  his  examinations  what  he  liad  afterwards  admitted 
to  be  true  ;  it  was  not  for  the  Duke  of  Norfolk  to 
stand  upon  discrediting  of  witnesses  and  advancing  his 
own  credit  which  he  liad  so  mucli  decayed." 

The  prosecution  closed,  and  Shrewsbury  asked  the 
Duke  what  more  he  had  to  say.  And  wliat  could  lie 
say  ?  If  indeed  tlie  Queen  of  Scots  was  an  innocent 
woman — and  the  Duke,  if  any  one,  knew  the  truth 
about  her —  lie  might  have  appealed  to  the  broad  prin- 
ciples of  justice  ;  lie  might  have  jjroclaimed,  in  the 
face  of  England  and  the  Peers,  the  cowardice  which 
liad  stained    her    with  crimes  of  whirh    her    accusers 


328  History  of  England.  [Ch.  xxii. 

themselves  were  guilty.  He  might  have  denounced 
Cecil,  Bacon,  Sadler,  Knollys,  Elizabeth  herself,  for 
their  atrocious  hypocrisy,  and  he  would  have  carried 
with  him  the  sympathies  of  the  world.  He  was  not 
standing;  before  a  Secret  Tribunal  in  the  dungeons  of 
the  Tower.  He  was  at  the  open  bar  in  Westminster 
Hall,  in  the  presence  of  the  English  nation,  and  the 
words  that  he  uttered  there  might  be  carried  to  every 
fireside  in  the  land.  Had  no  other  evidence  survived, 
were  there  no  letters,  no  witnesses,  no  sworn  deposi- 
tions of  those  who  had  lived  throu2:h  the  whole  of 
that  Scottish  tragedy  and  knew  it  in  all  its  parts,  the 
silence  of  Norfolk  at  this  the  supreme  moment  of  his 
own  fate  and  Mary  Stuart's,  would  be  proof  sufficient 
against  her  in  the  minds  of  all  persons  who  can  think 
upon  the  subject  with  reasonable  modesty.  The  Duke 
knew  the  truth,  and  the  truth  made  him  dumb  ;  he 
could  but  say  that  he  trusted  to  God  and  his  own  con- 
sciousness of  loyalty. 

The  Lords  withdrew,  the  High  Sheriff  remaining 
in  his  chair.  The  winter  day  had  long  departed. 
The  hall  was  faintly  lighted  with  pine  torches.  At 
eight  o'clock,  after  an  absence  of  an  hour  and  a  quar- 
ter, they  returned,  and  one  by  one  gave  in  the 
fatal  verdict  of  Guilty  on  all  the  counts.  The  Coun- 
sel for  the  Crown  pi'ayed  sentence ;  and  Shrewsbury, 
in  the  usual  dreadful  terms,  told  the  Duke  that  he 
must  die.  Then,  perhaps  for  the  first  time,  his  mis- 
deeds came  home  to  him.  Conspiracy  had  presented 
itself  to  him  in  the  disguise  of  piety  and  chivalry.  He 
had  dreamed  of  saving  his  country  from  the  upstarts 
who  were  drao-oino;  the  crown  into  io-nominious  alliance 
with  revolution  and  heresy,  of  laying  to  rest  the 
threatening  spectre  of  civil  war,  and  settling  the  vexed 


1572.]  Tlie  Reign  of  Elizahcth.  329 

succession  question.  The  sleep  was  broken,  the  vision 
was  faded,  and  there  remained  only  the  axe,  the  scaf- 
fold, the  masked  headsman,  and  six  feet  of  earth  in  the 
Chapel  of  the  Tower. 

"  This  is  the  judgment  of  a  traitor,"  he  said,  "  and 
I  shall  die  as  true  a  man  as  any  that  liveth."  He  beat 
his  breast  wildly.  "  Do  not  ask  for  my  life,"  he  cried  ; 
"  I  do  not  desire  to  live.  My  Lords,  as  you  have  put 
me  out  of  your  company  I  trust  shortly  to  be  in  bet- 
ter company  ;  only  I  beseech  you  intercede  with  the 
Queen  for  my  cliildren  and  for  payment  of  my  debts. 
God  knows  how  true  a  heart  I  bear  to  her  Majesty, 
how  true  a  heart  to  my  country,  whatever  this  day  has 
been  falsely  objected  to  me.     Farewell,  my  Lords." 

He  was  led  away  from  the  bar.  The  High  Steward 
broke  his  rod  and  the  trial  was  over,  and  a  loud  cry 
rose  from  the  crowd,  "  God  save  the  Queen."  It  was 
expected  that  the  resolution  which  had  brought  Eliza- 
beth so  far  woidd  have  carried  heron  to  the  conclusion, 
and  that  the  execution  would  not  be  postponed  beyond 
the  usual  time.  The  Duke  evidently  was  without 
hope :  face  to  face  with  death,  he  thought  no  more  of 
the  creed  to  which  he  had  told  the  Pope  he  was  se- 
cretly devoted,  and  he  desired  that  John  Foxe  the 
martyrologist,  his  old  teacher,  miglit  prepare  him  for 
his  cnd.i  Lord  Burghley  considered  that  hesitation 
would  be  extremely  dangerous.  "  No  better  hope 
could  be  given  to  the  evil,"  he  said,  "  than  to  see  jus- 
tice forborne  against  the  chief  offenders  in  so  perilous 
an  enterprise.  It  would  be  imputed  to  fear,  to  lack 
of  power  in  tlu;  Queen's  hand  by  God's  ordinance," 
and  in  the  highly  wrought  condition  of  Catliolic  imagi- 
nation, "  to  tlic  Scottish  Queen's  prayers  and  fastings."  ^ 

1  Skipwilh  to  Hirri,'hlfy,  .rnniiarv  17:   .1/.S\S'.  Domestic. 

2  >iotc3  ill  Cecil's  hand  :  Mtiii.  Uatjitld. 


330  History  of  England.  [Ch.  xxii. 

But  Elizabeth,  among  many  faults,  had  two  quali- 
ties which  were  extremely  honourable  to  her.  She 
detested  political  executions,  and  much  of  her  popular- 
ity was  attributed  by  her  to  the  cessation  of  the  scenes 
which  had  made  Tower  Hill  so  hideous.^  She  pos- 
sessed, besides,  an  insensibility  truly  regal  to  personal 
fear.  Never  at  any  time  in  her  whole  career  was  she 
driven  by  panic  into  cruelty.  She  had  lived  too  long 
in  the  expectation  of  death  to  be  frightened  at  the 
sound  of  it. 

The  very  weakness  of  Norfolk's  nature  touched  her. 
She  let  herself  hope  from  the  constancy  of  his  denials 
that  he  had  been  less  guilty  than  he  seemed  ;  and  as 
he  had  accused  Barker  of  perjury,  she  desired  that  he 
should  be  confronted  with  him.  The  Duke  flinched 
from  the  ordeal,^  but  Barker  was  reexamined  bv 
Knollys  and  Wilson,  and  made  the  most  of  every  point 
which  could  tell  in  his  master's  favour.  He  blamed 
the  Bishop  of  Ross,  he  blamed  Southampton,  Mon- 
tague, Lumley  —  every  one  more  than  the  Duke  ; 
he  said  that  they  were  forever  complaining  of  the 
Duke's  backwardness.^ 

1  "  The  Queen's  Majesty  has  been  always  a  merciful  lady,  and  by  mercy 
she  has  taken  more  harm  than  by  justice,  and  yet  she  thinks  she  is  more 
beloved  in  doing  herself  harm."  —  Burghley  to  Walsingham,  January  23: 
Digges. 

2  •'  The  Duke  hath  told  me  he  would  in  no  case  be  brought  face  to  face 
with  Barker  for  talking  of  that  matter."  —  Skipwith  to  Burghley,  January 
20:  MSS.    Domestic. 

3  "  When  I  brought  the  Duke  the  instructions  from  Ridolfi,  he  said  if 
the  Princes  would  help  the  Queen  of  Scots  they  might,  but  we  were  sub- 
jects; and  if  such  a  thing  should  come  he  saw  another  inconvenience,  for 
then  some  should  have  that  they  long  looked  for,  and  that  was,  to  rise  for 
religion;  and  then,  as  I  remember,  he  named  the  Lord  Montague,  "where- 
with," said  he,  "  I  will  never  deal  to  die  for  it.  As  touching  the  Queen  of 
Scots,  I  am  bound  to  her  in  honour.     If  I  can  comfort  or  quiet  her  I  will; 


1572.]  Tlie  Reign  of  Elizaheih.  831 

The  Bishop  of  Ross,  when  agahi  questioned,  ad- 
mitted that  Norfolk  had  been  forced  into  a  position 
which  he  had  not  souo;ht  and  from  which  he  would 
have  broken  had  he  possessed  the  courage.  It  was 
thouo-ht  that  rebellion  would  fail  without  his  help  and 
sanction,  and  he  had  drifted  from  step  to  step  without 
his  will  if  not  ao-ainst  it.^  The  Catholics  laid  the 
blame  of  their  failure  upon  him  ;  ^  and  although  Eliza- 
beth's judgment  remained  unaffected  as  to  the  broad 
bearings  of  his  conduct,  she  dwelt  upon  every  favoura- 
ble feature  of  it.  She  allowed  him  to  know  that  she 
thought  of  him  with  pity,  and  the  Duke  poured  out 
upon  her  a  stream  of  that  voluble  emotion  which  weak 
natures  have  so  easily  at  command.  "  He  loved  her 
ISIajesty,"  he  said,  "  with  such  transporting  affection 
that  he  would  not  spare  his  own  son's  life  if  danger 
might  rise  by  him  to  her  Highness.  He  had  done  ill, 
but  not  all  the  ill  with  which  he  was  charged  ;  and  she 
would  find  in  time  that  Norfolk  was  not  really  such  a 
traitor  as  he  had  given  her  too  much  cause  to  believe 
him."  3 

but  to  say  I  will  hazard  my  house  and  my  friends,  I  will  not.  Therefore 
I  would  to  God  she  would  leave  this  passionate  writing,  and  that  the 
Bishop  of  Ross  should  not  give  ear  to  any  such  troublous  practices,  for  it  is 
time  that  must  help  her  and  nothing  else ;  and  I  doubt  not  but  in  time  the 
Queen's  !Majesty  will  deal  with  her  to  her  contentation." 

"  The  Bishop  of  Ross  divers  times  was  on  hand  with  this  matter,  and  as 
I  remember,  said  he  would  be  one  liimself  and  venture  his  cragge ;  and 
•when  he  saw  my  Lord  utterly  denying  it,  he  said,  '  Well  then  my  Lord 
will  do  nothing,  and  so  nothing  shall  come  of  him.  But  there  is  no  remedy 
but  patience,  and  as  for  the  Queen,  my  mistress,  she  is  no  castaway:  if  he 
Will  not  do  for  her,  there  be  enough  that  will.'  "  —  Confession  of  Barker, 
Januan'  2-3 :  MSS.  Domestic. 

1  Confession  of  the  Bishop  of  Ross:  MSS.  Mary  Queen  of  Scots. 

2  "  They  said  at  Rome  if  the  Duke  had  had  in  him  that  which  they 
looked  to  have  found  in  him,  things  had  been  far  otherwise  than  they 
^•ere." — R.  Beseley  to  Burghley,  .January  27:  MHS.  Dnmestic. 

8  Norfolk  to  Elizabeth,  .January  23:  Murdin.  The  Duke  talked  to  Sir 
Uenry  Skipwith  in  the  Tower  in  the  same  tone.    He  said  that  "  to   his 


332  nistory  of  England.  [Ch.  xxir. 

Elizabeth  was  not  deceived  by  all  this  nonsense. 
Februai  "^'^^  Duke  meant  it  perhaps  when  he  wrote 
it,  and  he  wonld  mean  somethino;  else  when 
temptation  came  to  him  from  the  other  side.  But 
there  were  other  considerations  which  inclined  her  to 
be  merciful.  "  When  she  speaketh  of  the  danger," 
wrote  Burghley,  "  she  concludeth  that  justice  should 
be  done  ;  when  she  speaketh  of  his  nearness  of  blood, 
and  his  superiority  in  honour,  she  stayeth."  On  the 
9th  of  February  she  signed  a  warrant  for  the  execu- 
tion. The  following  Monday  was  fixed  for  it.  The 
scaffold  was  prepared,  and  Tower  Hill,  at  the  ap- 
pointed time,  was  choked  with  spectators.  But  on  the 
Sunday  night  she  sent  for  Burghley,  and  told  him  that 
the  thought  of  Norfolk's  death  was  too  dreadful  to  her. 
She  sent  orders  for  his  respite,  and  "  the  expectation  of 
the  people  was  answered  "  only  by  the  appearance  of 
Berney  and  Mather.^  The  Duke,  in  a  flood  of  tears, 
prayed  "that  he  might  be  able  to  make  recompence 
for  such  overmuch  mercy,  if  it  were  with  the  last  drop 
of  his  heart's  blood.  "  2  "  The  Peers,"  he  said,  "  had 
done  their  duty,  but  mercy  had  overcome  justice  ;  and 
if  his  breach  of  promise  had  not  too  much  discredited 
him,  he  hoped  that  the  delay  of  execution  was  meant 
to  tell  him  that  he  was  to  live."  ^ 

It  was  but  too  certain  that  Elizabeth  was  relapsing 
into  her  habitual  indecision.  The  experienced  Sadler 
wrote  that  "  the  discredit  which  would  grow  of  incon- 

eternal  infamy  he  had  dealt  with  the  Queen  of  Scots  and  had  broken  his 
promise  to  his  sovereign ;  but  he  vowed  to  God  that  if  he  was  now  offered  to 
have  that  woman  in  marriage  and  choose  that  or  death,  he  would  rather 
have  death  a  hundred  times,  and  took  his  Saviour  to  witness  of  it."  — 
Skipwith  to  Burghley:  MSS.  Domestic. 

1  Burghley  to  Walsingham,  February  11. 

2  Skipwith  to  Burghley,  February  28 :  MSS.  Domestic. 

8  Declaration  of  the  Duke  of  Norfolk,  February  26:  Murdin. 


1572.]  Tlie  Reipi  of  Elizahetli.  o33 

stancy  at  such  a  time,  in  a  matter  of  such  moment, 
was  so  great,  that  all  good  subjects  mourned  and  la- 
mented, and  the  evil  rejoiced  and  took  comfort,  think- 
hig  either  that  God  had  taken  from  her  the  power  to 
punish,  or  else  that  she  was  afraid."  ^  The  Queen's 
plain-spoken  cousin.  Lord  Hunsdon,  was  even  more 
decided  in  his  disapprobation. 

"  Her  Majesty's  carelessness  of  herself,"  he  wrote 
to  Burghley,  "  doth  not  only  amaze  me,  but  gives  me 
to  think  it  but  labour  lost  to  be  so  curious  for  foreign 
affairs,  and  so  negligent  for  the  preservation  of  her 
own  person,  the  destruction  whereof  is  the  only  thing 
which  the  enemies  seek  and  desire  ;  for  the  compassing 
whereof  no  practice  shall  be  omitted,  or  convenient 
time  foreslowed.  Although  God  has  miraculously  re- 
vealed the  same,  it  follows  not  that  He  will  do  so  still, 
the  rather  because  He  so  mercifully  discovers  these 
practices  to  her,  and  she  so  carelessly  neglects  to  pro- 
vide for  the  danger  thei'eof.  This  carelessness  cannot 
come  of  herself,  and  therefore  is  the  more  to  be  feared  ; 
for  naturally  there  is  none  but  if  they  knew  of  any 
that  determines  and  conspires  their  death,  but  they 
will  seek  all  the  ways  and  means  they  can  to  prevent 
the  same  in  such  sort  as  they  may  sleep  without  fear  ; 
and  thus,  what  is  it  for  her  Majesty,  who  knows  the 
malice  of  her  enemies  to  be  so  great,  as  there  shall  be 
no  practice  left  unsought  for  nor  unexecuted ;  and  yet, 
as  I  fear,  she  is  made  to  believe  she  is  in  no  peril.  God 
grant,  that  if  any  do  so  persuade  her,  they  be  not  such 
as  would  rejoice  at  her  fall.  The  world  knows  her  to 
be  wise,  and  surely  there  cannot  be  a  greater  point  of 
wisdom  than  for  any  to  be  careful  of  their  own  estate, 
and  especially  the  preservation  of  their  own  life. 
1  Sadler  to  Burghlej',  February  27:  Mmdiii. 


334  History  of  England.  [Ch.  xxii. 

How  much  more  needful  is  it  for  her  Majesty  to  take 
heed,  upon  whose  hfe  depends  a  whole  commonwealth, 
the  utter  ruin  of  the  whole  country,  and  the  utter  sub- 
version of  religion.  And  if  by  her  negligence  or 
womanish  pity  these  things  haj^pen,  what  she  hath  to 
answer  for  to  God  she  herself  knows.  God  forbid 
that  any  should  advise  her  to  be  bloody,  if  her  surety 
may  be  without  blood  ;  but  if  matters  fall  out  so  that 
she  cannot  be  sure  Avithout  it,  better  for  some  mem- 
bers to  be  cut  off  than  the  whole  body  to  perish.  My 
Lord,  I  know  you  to  be  wise  and  careful  of  her  estate. 
Let  not  the  fear  of  offending  others  cause  you  to  suffer 
her  to  run  headlong  into  her  own  destruction.  Let 
her  remember  the  wise  and  politic  government  of  all 
her  predecessors,  and  of  all  the  princes  of  the  world, 
whicli  is  to  spare  none  which  shall  dare  touch  God's 
holy  anointed  ;  no,  not  their  own  sons,  if  any  be  so 
unnatural."  ^ 

Remonstrances  like  these,  Avith  the  return  at  inter- 
vals of  her  own  wiser  judgment,  produced  some  effect 
upon  Elizabeth.  More  than  once  she  repeated  her  or- 
der for  the  drawinor  of  the  warrant.  At  the  beo;innino; 
of  April  she  said  distinctly  that  her  hesitation  Avas  at 
an  end,  and  that  the  execution  should  take  place.^ 
But  the  uncertainty  in  herself,  and  the  influence  of  her 
favourites,  once  more  undid  her  purpose.  The  time 
of  grace  was  extended  indefinitely,  and  the  unhappy 
Norfolk  persuaded  himself  that  the  bitterness  of  death 
Avas  passed. 

Nor  Avith  the  lady  at  Sheffield  could  she  any  more 
resolve  Avhat  to    do.     When  the  conspiracy  Avas  first 

1  Hunsdon  to  Burghley,  March  20 :  31SS.  Border. 

2  Warrant  for  the  execution  of  the   Duke  of  Norfolk,  April  9 :  MSS. 
Hatfield. 


157-2  ]  Tlie  Reign  of  Elizabeth.  335 

discovered,  neither  Mary  Stuart  nor  her  friends  ex- 
pected any  kind  of  mercy.  Leaving  vengeance  out 
of  sight,  not  a  prince  in  Europe,  on  mere  grounds  of 
pohcy,  would  at  that  period  have  spared  a  competitor 
for  the  crown  who  had  tried  tlie  game  of  rebelHon  and 
had  failed.  Both  Alva  and  Philip  had  expressed  their 
fears,  that  if  the  plot  was  found  out,  she  would  be  ex- 
ecuted, and  they  did  not  pretend  to  think  that  her 
execution  would  be  unjust.  A  sovereign  who  in  Eliz- 
abeth's circumstances  ventured  to  dally  with  her  dan- 
ger, was  considered  forsaken  of  God  and  given  over 
to  destruction.  But  time  passed  on,  and  except  close 
confinement  and  the  suppression  of  her  correspondence, 
Mar}^  Stuart  experienced  no  further  inconvenience. 
Buchanan's  "  Detectio  "  was  published  ;  Elizabeth  an- 
nounced at  last  that  she  could  never  more  be  restored 
to  Scotland,  and  she  was  publicly  termed  "  the  late 
Queen  ;  "  but  there  Avas  no  talk  of  bringing  her  to 
ti'ial  as  well  as  the  Duke  ;  no  private  assassins  came 
down  to  Sheffield  to  do  the  work  which  but  for  English 
interference  would  have  been  completed  at  Lochleven  ; 
and  at  last,  at  Christmas,  just  before  Norfolk  was 
brought  to  the  bar,  she  tried  the  effect  of  a  letter,  in 
the  hope  of  saving  him.  Notwithstanding  the  wrongs 
which  she  had  suffered,  she  said,  she  could  not  for- 
get that  Elizabeth  was  her  nearest  relative,  who  had 
once  seemed  to  love  her.  She  had  listened,  poor  fool 
that  she  was,  and  had  laid  herself  open  to  be  injured 
throufrh  her  confidence,  and  she  had  been  rewarded 
with  slander  and  imprisonment.  She  had  said  from 
the  first,  that  if  the  Queen  of  England  would  not  help 
her,  she  would  seek  assistance  elsewhere  ;  she  had  but 
kept  her  word,  and  had  done  no  wrong  in  kee])ing  it. 
But  she  had  wished  to  be  Elizabeth's  frienti,  and  she 


336  History  of  England.  [Ch.  xxir. 

wished  it  still.  She  was  readv  still  to  forget  and  for- 
give  all  her  injuries  if  Elizabeth  would  restrain  her 
anger  and  hurt  no  one  on  her  account ;  she  would  be 
glad  if  they  might  be  reconciled  before  the  convulsion 
which  was  approaching  in  England  burst  out,  and  it 
was  too  late.  "  Do  not  think  I  flatter  you,"  she  said, 
"  out  of  fear  for  myself.  You  may  make  a  dishonourable 
profit  out  of  my  life,  if  you  please  to  take  it  from  me  ; 
but  my  heart  is  my  own  ;  I  have  done  my  duty  in  lay- 
ing these  considerations  before  you,  to  prevent  the  mis- 
chief which  may  otherwise  ensue.  God  move  you  to 
listen,  to  His  glory,  your  own  ci'edit,  and  the  public 
good."  1 

Elizabeth  took  no  immediate  notice  of  a  letter  which, 
after  the  admissions  of  the  Bishop  of  Ross,  implied  too 
much  contempt  for  her  understanding ;  but,  when 
Shrewsbury  was  summoned  to  London  to  the  trial, 
Sadler  took  his  place  at  Sheffield,  and  used  the  occasion 
to  point  out  to  the  Queen  of  Scots  "  that  no  j)rince, 
having  such  matter  against  her  as  the  Queen  of  Eng- 
land had,  would  have  used  her  so  graciously."  She 
said,  in  reply,  that  she  had  done  nothing  against  the 
Queen  of  England  —  nothing  that  the  Queen  of  Eng- 
land could  resent.  She  knew  nothing  of  Ridolfi.  The 
Bishop  of  Ross  was  a  lying  priest,  and  she  was  inno- 
cent of  all  practices.  What  Norfolk  might  have  done 
she  could  not  say  :  Norfolk  might  answer  for  himself.^ 

It  was  difficult  to  see  what  she  hoped  to  gain  by 
such  words,  for  Sadler  was  not  a  man  to  be  fooled  out 
of  his  convictions  by  hard  swearing.  When  Shrews- 
bury returned  he  brought  with  him  Elizabeth's  an- 
swer. 

1  Mary  Stuart  to  Elizabeth,  December  25:  Labanoff,  Vol.  IV. 

2  Sadler  to  Cecil,  January  9 :  MSB.  Queen  of  Scots. 


15T2.]  The  Reign  of  Elizabeth.  337 

"  The  Queen  of  Scots,"  she  said,  "  complamed  of 
injuries.  She  had  herself  been  the  first  to  do  wrong, 
by  la}ang  claim  to  the  crown.  The  Queen  of  England 
might  have  retaliated  by  taking  her  own  crown  from 
her  with  the  consent  of  her  subjects.  When  she  was 
afterwards  dethroned,  imprisoned,  charged  with  mur- 
der, adultery,  and  maintainmg  the  Earl  of  Bothwell, 
the  Queen  of  England  had  saved  her  life  ;  and  now 
the  Queen  of  Scots  reproached  her  because  she  was  not 
at  liberty  to  stir  more  rebellions,  to  bring  in  foreign 
armies,  and  compel  the  Queen  of  England  to  allow  her 
to  many  the  Duke  of  Norfolk.  She  had  promised  the 
Queen  of  England  to  think  no  more  of  that  marriage  ; 
but  she  had  pursued  it  without  intermission  ;  and  no 
reasonable  person  could  believe  that  she  was  not  seek- 
ing to  deprive  the  Queen  of  England  of  crown  and 
life.  The  injuries  were  all  on  one  side  and  the  bene- 
fits on  the  other ;  and  '  indifferent  persons  marvelled 
more  that  the  Queen  of  Scots'  proceedings  were  not 
avenged  after  other  sort  than  merely  detaining  her  in 
the  realm '  with  an  expensive  establishment.  Foreign 
princes  could  not  honourably  assist  her  to  recover  her 
kingdom,  when  she  had  abandoned  it  upon  causes,  of 
which  it  would  provoke  her  to  grief  and  impatience  to 
be  reminded.  The  Queen  of  England  desired  to  treat 
her  kindly  and  favourably,  but  she  must  first  give  some 
proof  of  the  good-will  she  professed  to  entertain  —  by 
deeds  as  well  as  words ;  and  at  once,  and  as  a  first 
step,  she  must  ratify  the  treaty  of  Leith."  ^ 

It  was  sharp  winter  weather  when  Shrewsbury  came 
back  to  Sheffield  with  this  message.  He  brought  per- 
mission with  him  to  relax  the  strictness  of  the  Queen 

1  The  Queen  of  England  to  the  Queen  of  Scots,  February  1 :  Burghley'a 
hand,  abridged:  M^H.  Queen  of  Scots. 
vol..  x.  22 


338  History  of  Ungland.  [Ch.  xxii. 

of  Scots'  confinement;  and  when  she  was  first  allowed 
to  go  outside  the  castle  door,  "  she  plunged  over  her 
shoes  into  the  snow."  ^  Untamed  and  intractable  as 
the  eagle  of  her  own  mountains,  she  pined  for  liberty  ; 
and  there  was  but  one  price  which  she  would  not  pay 
for  it.  Sweet  as  was  the  air,  and  the  open  sky,  and 
freedom,  the  hope  of  revenge  was  sweeter.  Could  she 
even  then  have  abandoned  her  conspiracies,  accepted 
the  friendship  which  she  affected  to  desire,  and  ceased 
to  dream  of  revolutions,  a  few  years,  a  few  months 
perhaps,  would  have  seen  her  clear  of  all  her  troubles. 
But  it  was  not  in  her  nature  to  submit  :  her  proud 
spirit  would  sooner  break  than  bend,  and  she  could  not 
part  with  the  visions  of  triumph  on  which  she  had 
feasted  in  imagination  so  luxuriously. 

The  strictness  of  the  watch  over  her  was  no  sooner 
relaxed,  than  Shrewsbury  found  her  again  bribing  his 
servants,  smuggling  letters  out  of  the  house  to  her 
friends  abroad  —  busy  incessantly  at  the  old  work. 
The  net  had  to  be  drawn  tight  again.  Her  people 
were  briefly  told,  that  if  there  was  more  of  such  work 
they  would  be  sent  to  London  and  hanged  ;  ^  and 
*'  the  Lady  "  had  to  fall  back  upon  her  "  stormy  man- 
ners and  threatenings  ; "  "  never  so  unquiet  since 
Shrewsbury  had  the  care  of  her."  The  Earl  under- 
stood  her  character  at  last.  He  "  so  decyphered  her 
doings,"  that  she  exhausted  the  respect  which  he  had 
long  continued  to  entertain  for  her.  One  good  effect 
resulted  from  her  eternal  restlessness  —  she  had  made 
the  Catholic  Shrewsbury  loyal  to  his  own  sovereign ; 
and  of  the  Queen  of  Scots  "  he  made  no  more  account 
than  the  laws  required."  ^ 

1  Shrewsbury'  to  Burghley,  February  14 :  MSS.  Queen  of  Scots. 

2  Same  to  the  same,  February  24. 

8  Same  to  the  same,  March  4  and  March  9:  MSS.  Queen  of  Scots. 


15:2.]  .      The  Reign  of  Elizabeth.  839 

Driven  in  upon  herself,  and  for  the  present  deprived 
of  other  weapons,  the  Queen  of  Scots  could  only  have 
recourse  to  her  matchless  power  of  sarcasm.  If  she 
could  not  hoodwink  Elizabeth,  she  might  at  least 
wound  and  sting  her. 

"  It  was  not  her  fault,"  she  said,  "  if  the  Queen  of 
England  persisted  in  complaining  of  her  assumption  of 
the  title.  She  had  always  professed  herself  willing  to 
abandon  her  present  claim  if  her  place  in  the  succession 
was  acknowledged.  The  Queen  of  England  said  that 
she  ought  to  be  grateful  to  her  for  having  declined  the 
offer  of  the  Scotch  crown.  She  was  sorry  she  had 
been  so  remiss  in  acknowledo-inff  the  oblio-ation  ;  but  it 
was  the  first  time  that  she  had  heard  of  it.  If  the 
Queen  of  England  had  received  such  a  proof  of  her 
subjects'  treason,  she  was  surprised  that  the  Queen  of 
England  should  have  supported  them  ;  but  she  thanked 
her,  at  all  events,  for  such  valuable  information.  As 
to  savino-  her  life,  the  Queen  of  Eno-land  had  been  the 
chief  maintenance  of  those  who  had  threatened  it ;  and 
her  good  offices,  therefore,  amounted  to  little.  Her 
own  gratitude  in  the  matter  was  due,  she  conceived, 
first  to  God,  and  then  to  the  King  of  France.  That 
the  Queen  of  England  had  interceded  for  her  she  had 
never  heard,  except  from  the  Queen  of  England  her- 
self;  and,  looking  back  over  the  whole  transaction,  she 
could  not  feel  her  obligations  to  be  great.  She  had 
been  told  that  shortly  before  the  Earl  of  Murray's 
death  the  Queen  of  England  had  proposed  to  replace 
her  in  his  hands  —  with  wliat  intentions  she  left  her 
good  sister  to  settle  with  God.  As  to  the  expense  of 
her  maintenance,  she  had  not  the  slightest  desire  to  eat 
the  Queen  of  England's  bread.  The  Queen  of  Eng- 
land might  be  relieved  of  it  at  any  moment  by  restor- 


840  History  of  England.  [Ch.  xxii. 

ino;  her  to  the  crown  which  she  had  assisted  her  sub- 
jects  to  take  from  her.  The  Queen  of  England  com- 
plained that  she  had  attempted  to  bring  strangers  into 
Scotland.  She  was  Queen  of  that  country,  and  if  she 
had  accepted  the  assistance  of  neighbouring  princes  to 
put  down  rebels  who  had  themselves  been  assisted  by 
strangers  against  their  sovereign,  the  Queen  of  Eng- 
land had  nothing  to  complain  of.  The  Duke  of  Nor- 
folk had  been  recommended  to  her  as  a  husband  by 
some  of  the  Queen  of  England's  own  ministers.  It 
was  hard  to  expect  her  to  know  that  it  was  against  the 
Queen  of  England's  wishes.  Her  Majesty  said  that  in 
other  countries  she  would  have  been  treated  less  len- 
iently. She  did  not  see  very  well  how  this  could  be. 
She  had  come  into  England  on  the  Queen's  invitation ; 
she  had  been  held  a  close  prisoner  ever  since  ;  and  her 
subjects  had  been  allowed  to  scatter  libels  over  Europe 
against  her.  She  supposed,  now,  that  the  Queen  of 
England  was  advised  to  put  her  to  death.  She  did 
not  expect  the  Queen  of  England  would  venture  on 
such  a  step  ;  but  fear  of  death  should  not  make  her  do 
what  otherwise  she  would  not  have  done.^  She  had 
required  an  acknowledgment  that  she  stood  next  to 
her  Majesty  in  the  succession  to  the  crown,  and  the 
English  nobility  had  made  the  same  demand  in  her 
name.  She  was  willing  to  give  all  necessary  securities 
for  the  Queen  of  England's  safety,  and  they  could  then 
be  friends  instead  of  enemies."  ^ 

Even  this  language  failed  to  irritate  Elizabeth  into 
severity.  It  seemed  as  if  she  desired  by  the  extrem- 
ity of  forbearance  to  wear  out  the  interest  of  English 

1  1.  e.  ratify  the  treaty  of  Leith. 

2  Declaration  of  Mary  Stuart,  February  14,  abridged:  Labanoff,  Vol. 
IV. 


1572.]  The  Reign  of  Elizabeth.  341 

frentlemen  in  Marv  Stuart's  fate  and  fortunes  —  to 
give  her  scope  and  rope  to  convince  the  most  fanatic 
and  incredulous  of  the  real  character  of  the  idol  on 
■which  their  hearts  were  set. 

And  as  it  was  with  the  Queen  of  Scots,  so  it  was 
with  Scotland. 

The  failure  at  Stirling  and  the  death  of  Lennox  con- 
tinued to  weaken  further  the  faihng  strength  of  Mary 
Stuart's  party.  The  Regency  had  fallen  to  the  Earl 
of  Mar,  who  was  personally  popular.  The  murder  of 
the  father  of  Daniley  had  reawakened  the  higher  con- 
science of  the  people,  and  the  Hamiltons,  compromised 
in  each  of  the  three  great  crimes  of  the  past  years,  be- 
came more  and  more  detested.  The  slightest  action, 
or  even  a  purpose  decidedly  announced  on  the  part 
of  England,  would  have  completed  their  overthrow. 
The  Castle  of  Edinburgh  would  have  surrendered, 
and  the  unfortunate  Scotland,  for  two  years  now  given 
over  to  anarchy,  would  have  been  restored  to  order 
and  peace. 

On  the  first  discovery  of  the  Ridolfi  conspiracy, 
Elizabeth  yielded  as  usual  to  an  impulse  of  good  sense. 
She  wrote  to  Mar  to  say  that  the  late  practices  for  set- 
ting on  fire  both  the  realms  having  by  God's  goodness 
been  brought  to  light,  he  should  have  no  further  cause 
to  doubt  her  intentions  ;  she  would  assist  him  in  bring- 
ing all  Scotland  to  the  obedience  of  the  King  ;  and 
she  had  empowered  Hunsdon  to  treat  with  him  on  the 
course  to  be  pursued.^ 

Mar  at  once  moved  from  Stirling  to  Leith  to  pre- 
pare to  besiege  the  castle.  Hunsdon  and  Drury  sent 
word  to  Maitland  that  further  resistance  was  useless. 
Their  mistress  intended  to  interfere  at  last  to  real  pur- 
1  Elizabeth  to  the  Earl  of  Mar,  October  2 :  MSS.  Scotland. 


342  History  of  England.  [Ch.  xxii. 

pose ;  and  if  they  refused  to  surrender,  "  there  was 
force  imminent  upon  them  utterly  for  their  extermina- 
tion." 1  The  Castle  party  were  well  supplied  with 
money  and  provisions.  They  had  no  fear  of  the  Re- 
gent, and  the  Gordons  in  the  North  had  just  gained 
what  passed  at  the  time  for  a  considerable  success.  In 
two  skirmishes  Adam  Gordon  had  cut  up  and  destroyed 
the  whole  clan  of  Forbes.  Lady  Forbes  shut  herself 
up  with  her  children  and  servants  in  Towie  Castle. 
Adam  Gordon  came  under  the  walls,  broke  an  opening 
through  them  with  pick  and  crowbar,  and  flung  in 
blazing  faggots  of  brushwood.  The  children,  choking 
with  "  the  reek,"  sprang  over  the  battlements,  were 
caught  on  pikes,  and  tossed  back  into  the  flames. 
Mother,  family,  household,  all  perished,  save  one 
woman  who  struggled  through  the  fire  and  escaped.^ 

The  "  victory  "  secured  Aberdeenshire  for  the  pres- 
ent to  Lord  Huntly ;  and  Alva,  though  out  of  humour 
with  England,  was  still  thinking  seriously  that  he 
might  effect  something  in  the  Northern  kingdom. 
Lord  Seton,  supported  by  Leonard  Dacres,  had  so  far 
worked  upon  him  that  the  Aberdeenshire  coast  had 
been  carefully  surveyed,  and  one  or  two  places  with 
accessible  harbours  had  been  selected  to  be  fortified.^ 
If  Elizabeth  sent  men  and  guns  to  reduce  Edinburgh 
Castle,  their  hopes  in  this  quarter  would  instantly  dis- 

1  Drur}'  to  Maitland,  October  6 :  MSS.  Scotland. 

2  This  infernal  wickedness  was  celebrated  by  the  Queen's  friends  at 
Edinburgh  with  a  fast  and  a  thanksgiving.  The  later  penitence  of  Scot- 
land has  preserved  the  memory  of  the  deed  in  the  most  touching  of  all  the 
Northern  ballads. 

"  Give  ower  your  House,  ye  lady  fair, 
Giye  ower  your  House  to  me,"  &c. 

—  Percy  Relics,  Vol.  I.  p.  125. 

3  Articles  of  the  Lord  Seton's  negotiations  with  the  Duke  of  Alva: 
MSS.  Queen  of  Scots. 


157-2.]  The  Reign  of  Elizabeth.  343 

appear,  and  it  was  necessary,  if  possible,  to  amuse  her 
■with  negotiations  to  give  time  for  the  Spaniards  to 
come. 

They  knew  her  character  only  too  well.  It  was 
with  the  greatest  reluctance  that  she  had  acknowl- 
edged at  last  the  necessity  of  interference.  She  was 
most  anxious  to  induce  the  party  in  the  Castle  to 
surrender  of  themselves,  and  insisted  that  the  very 
easiest  terms  should  be  offered  them  consistent  with 
their  submission  to  the  Kino;.  The  mention  of  terms 
gave  Maitland  the  opportunity  which  he  wanted.  It 
enabled  him  to  raise  a  series  of  questions  on  the  gov- 
ernment of  Scotland,  on  the  restoration  of  forfeited 
property,  on  the  endless  difficulties,  in  detail,  in  the 
proposed  reconciliation,  and  Elizabeth  was  willing  to 
go  on  indefinitely  allowing  these  points  to  be  argued 
over.  It  was  to  no  purpose  that  she  was  warned  of 
the  intrio;ues  soing;  forward  at  Brussels  :  of  the  danger 
of  delay  ;  of  the  certainty  that  when  her  troops  were 
once  in  motion  the  castle  would  be  surrendered  at  dis- 
cretion. The  Queen  only  recalled  the  powers  to  use 
force  which  she  had  given  to  Hunsdon  ;  and  Hunsdon 
vainly  told  her  that  she  was  throwing  away  time, 
words,  and  money  in  endeavouring  to  deal  with  the 
difficulty  in  any  other  way.^ 

So  the  wretched  uncertainty  drove  on.  After  three 
months'  debate,  it  came  to  this.  Elizabeth  would  not 
restore  Mary  Stuart,  but  would  consent  that  during 

1  "  They  of  the  castle  will  not  yield  to  persuasions  or  threatenings.  I 
would  her  Majesty  had  used  some  other  instrument  to  make  demonstrations 
of  having  the  castle  by  force;  for  it  is  neither  honourable  to  her  nor  credit 
to  me,  and  doth  verify  their  saying.  They  did  always  affirm  and  give  out 
that  what  shew  soever  her  Majesty  made  she  would  send  no  forces.  I  pray 
God  when  they  shall  find  that  her  Majesty  will  send  no  forces  that  they 
make  not  anotlier  alteration  among  themselves  smally  to  lier  Majesty's  con- 
tentment." —  Hunsdon  to  Burghley,  December  4:  MSS.  Scotland. 


844  History  of  England.  [Ch.  xxii. 

the  King's  minority  the  administration  should  be  di- 
vided between  the  two  factions  ;  and  she  insisted  that 
all  the  estates  and  offices  which  had  been  taken  from  the 
Queen's  friends  should  be  restored  to  them.  The  Re- 
gent naturally  replied  that  he  and  those  who  had  acted 
with  him  had  mined  themselves  to  maintain  the  Kino-'s 
authority  —  as  much  in  Elizabeth's  interest  as  their 
own  —  and  that  those  who  had  raised  the  civil  war 
ought  to  pay  for  it.^  Elizabeth  might  have  met  this 
objection  by  paying  something  herself;  but  every  far- 
thing of  money  which  she  advanced  to  these  poor  Prot- 
estant noblem.en  was  wrung  from  her  drop  by  drop  as 
if  it  were  her  life's  blood.  The  Regent's  troops  were 
in  mutiny  for  want  of  wages,  and  Maitland  laughed 
in  his  sleeve  as  he  watched  her  wearing  out  their  pa- 
tience.^ 

The  Queen,  semper  eadem^  as  she  fitly  named  her- 
self, was  resolute  only  not  to  part  with  money,  and 
otherwise  changed  her  mind  from  day  to  day.  She 
allowed  Burghley  to  draw  up  conditions  favourable  to 
the  Regent,  and  to  threaten  the  Castle  party  with 
compulsion  ;  when  it  came  to  the  point  of  action  she 
perpetually  refused  to  turn  her  menaces  into  reality, 
or  to  assist  the  Regent  with  men  or  subsidies  to  drive 
or  tempt  them   to   submit.^     With   such   a   mistress 

1  Mar  to  Hunsdon,  January  15 :  MSS.  Scotland. 

2  "  You  will  perceive  the  hindrance  to  the  King's  side  by  the  delay  of 
her  Majesty's  resolution  and  want  of  money.  I  assure  you,  if  her  Majesty 
tract  the  time  any  longer  they  will  be  overthrown.  The  soldiers  at  iLeith 
refuse  to  watch  or  ward,  so  as  the  noblemen  and  gentlemen  are  fain  to 
watch  themselves.  It  is  feared  lest  for  want  of  pay  the  soldiers  will,  if 
they  can,  deliver  the  Regent  and  the  rest  to  their  enemies.  Surely  it 
stands  her  Majesty  better  in  honour  and  surety  to  resolve  one  way  or  the 
other,  lest  when  now  she  may  rule  both  sides,  by  lingering  she  may  lose 
both."  —  Hunsdon  to  Burghley,  January  26:  MS.  Ibid. 

3  "  Of  that  which  it  hath  pleased  your  Lordship  secretly  to  inform  us, 
and  so  earnestly  to  charge  us  to  keep  in  counsel,  that  no  force  shall  be  used 


1572.]  The  Reign  of  Elizabeth.  345 

over  him,  Burghley  could  but  struggle  with  impossi- 
bilities. He  knew  that  unless  Mary  Stuart's  faction 
in  Scotland  was  put  down,  the  danger  to  England  was 
scarcely  less  than  from  the  Ridolfi  conspiracy  ;  but  his 
threats  Avere  wasted  words.  Elizabeth  was  capable  of 
letting  Maitland  know  secretly  that  he  need  not  re- 
gard them.  In  Burghley's  presence  she  could  be  ar- 
gued into  reason  ;  when  he  left  her  she  fell  back  under 
the  persuasions  of  Leicester  and  the  poisonous  house- 
hold clique,  the  nest  of  the  traitors  male  and  female 
who  were  forever  busy  undermining  her  wiser  judg- 
ment and  thwarting  the  influence  of  her  ministers. 

In  February  Thomas  Randolph  was  called  out  of  his 
retirement  and  sent  down  to  Edinburgh  to  attempt  a 
composition.  He  found  the  Regent  in  the  last  stage 
of  exasperation,  complaining  that  Murray  had  been 
ruined  by  Elizabeth's  falsehood,  and  that  now  Ke  him- 
self "  was  findino;  nothino;  but  words  of  which  he  had 
already  had  too  much."  At  this  moment  Alva  was 
comins  to  a  resolution  to  strike  in.  The  battle  of  Le- 
panto  in  October,  and  the  splendid  victory  of  Don  John 
of  Austria,  had  revived  the  spirits  of  the  Spaniards, 
and  gave  Philip  leisure  to  employ  his  arms  elsewhere. 
Seton  had  completed  his  arrangements  for  the  landing 
of  the  troops  at  Aberdeen,  and  was  hastening  home 
with  money  and  instructions  to  prepare  for  their  recep- 
tion, when  the  vessel  in  which  he  was  crossino;  the 
Channel  was  driven  by  a  storm  into  Harwich.  Seton, 
to  lose  no  time,  passed  through  England  disguised  as  a 
sailor,  taking  the  money  with  him.     Tlie  ship  was  to 

against  the  Castilians  if  the  treaty  can  take  no  effect,  and  that  there  is  a 
peremptor}'  refusal  thereof,  nor  yet  that  they  may  be  won  with  money  to 
that  wh(,-ri;in  persuasion  could  not  prevail,  we  can  but  promise  in  ourselves 
silence  in  the  matter,  and  to  deal  with  the  other  the  best  we  can." —  Ran- 
dolph and  Drury  to  liurghley,  March  31 :  MUS.  Scotland. 


o46  History  of  England.  [Ch.  xxii. 

follow  as  soon  as  the  weather  moderated,  and  believ- 
mg  that  no  suspicion  could  attach  to  her,  he  left  his 
papers  and  ci})hers  on  board.  Information  was  given 
to  the  officers  of  the  port,  the  ship  was  searched,  the 
documents  were  found  and  sent  to  London,  and  as  the 
ciphers  were  gradually  read  they  revealed  the  plans 
for  the  invasion  of  Scotland,  with  a  correspondence 
between  the  Countess  of  Northumberland  and  Doug- 
las of  Lochleven  for  the  release  of  the  Earl.  Some 
few  days  elapsed,  however,  before  the  key  was  made 
out,  and  meanwhile  Randolph  and  Sir  William  Drury, 
wdio  was  in  commission  with  him,  had  been  admitted 
to  the  Castle  to  an  interview  with  the  Marian  leaders. 
Seton  had  arrived,  and  not  having  heard  of  the  miscar- 
riage of  his  papers,  they  were  in  high  confidence  and 
spirits.  Chatelherault,  Huntly,  Seton,  Maitland, 
Hume,  Grange,  the  Bishops  of  Dunkeld  and  Gallo- 
way, Sir  Robert  Melville,  and  Ker  of  Fernihurst,  and 
many  others,  were  assembled  there.  They  had  col- 
lected to  consider  Alva's  plans  and  how  best  they  could 
forward  them. 

The  Castle  was  tolerably  comfortable.  Morton  had 
hoped  that  the  cold  winter  would  have  starved  the 
garrison  out,  but  they  had  destroyed  the  largest  mer- 
chants' houses  in  Edinburgh  to  make  fuel  of  the  tim- 
ber,  and  so  had  held  the  frost  at  bay.  Mons  Meg  was 
fired  in  honour  of  the  coming  of  the  English  envoys. 
The  Lords  received  them  standing,  all  but  Maitland, 
who  was  too  ill  to  rise  from  his  seat.  They  found  the 
Duke  "  the  fool  he  always  was  ;  "  Huntly  "  full  of 
malice  ;  "  Seton  "  vain,  despiteful,  dishonest,  unreason- 
able ;  "  "  the  two  worthy  Prelates  neither  learned  nor 
wise."  Maitland  was  the  one  person  of  ability  among 
them,  and  of  him  Randolph  said,  "  he  had  never  found 


1572.]  The  Reign  of  Elizabeth.  347 

in  so  weak  a  body  a  man  less  mindful  of  God  or  un- 
natural to  his  country."  They  said  that  they  were 
ready  for  peace,  but  peace  on  their  own  conditions, 
which  would  virtually  give  the  control  of  Scotland  to 
themselves.  They  would  not  acknowledge  either  Khig 
or  Reoent.  Most  of  them  had  been  concerned  in  the 
murders  of  Murray  or  Lennox,  and  they  insisted  on 
being  secured  from  undesirable  consequences ;  it  was 
plain  to  Randolph  "  that  if  they  were  able  to  set  all 
the  devils  in  hell  loose  to  make  mischief,  they  would 
not  leave  one  untied." 

At  length  they  drew  up  a  j)aper  of  conditions,  such 
as  Maitland  knew  would  be  likely  to  work 

March. 

upon  Elizabeth,  in  which,  while  declining  to 
make  concessions  to  the  other  party,  they  affected  to 
throw  themselves  entirely  upon  the  Queen  of  Eng- 
land's discretion.  They  offered  that  the  Government 
of  Scotland  should  be  vested  in  a  Council  of  Nobles 
whom  Elizabeth  should  name,  and  that  difficult  ques- 
tions should  be  referred  to  her  arbitration.  Nothing, 
seemingly,  could  be  more  fair  —  nothing,  read  by  the 
light  of  Seton's  papers,  could  be  more  profoundly 
treacherous.  They  desired,  as  Burghley  saw,  merely 
to  keep  their  hold  upon  the  country  till  Alva  came, 
and  the  game  would  then  be  their  own.^ 

1  Terms  sent  from  the  Castle,  with  marginal  notes  in  Lord  Burghley's 

hand. 

bukghley's  notes.  akticlks. 

Cori»i8  sine  capite.  1  Government  to  be   composed   of  the  Lords  of 

both  sides,  to  be  chosen  indifferently  by  the  Queen 

of  England. 
Donnit  securus.  2  These  persons  shall  promise  and  give  security 

that   Scotland  shall  continue   in  good  amity  with 

England. 
Sicut  crant  In  princi-         3  Foreign  soldiers  not  to  be  received  into  Scot- 
I''"-  land. 


348  History  of  England.  [Ch.  xxii. 

Alva's  coming,  however,  could  be  prevented.  The 
knowledge  that  his  intentions  were  discovered  would 
of  itself  be  a  motive  to  him  to  keep  quiet,  and  if  not, 
there  were  now  means  by  which  he  could  be  held  in 
check  ;  while  so  long  as  danger  from  Spain  could  be 
avoided  Elizabeth  herself  was  well  pleased  to  be  ad- 
dressed as  the  arbiter  of  Scotch  disputes.  But  the 
intimation  of  a  treaty  being  on  foot  for  the  release  of 
the  Earl  of  Northumberland  was  seriously  alarming. 
She  felt  it  necessary  at  all  hazards  to  get  the  Earl  into 
her  own  hands  ;  and  she  sent  word  to  Mar  that  if 
Northumberland  was  given  up  to  her,  she  would  at 
least  insist  that  the  Castilians  should  acknowledge  the 
King  and  submit  to  the  authority  of  the  Regent. 

It  was  a  relief  to  Mar  to  find  at  least  something 
which  gave  him  a  hold  upon  Elizabeth's  interests.  He 
did  not  mean  to  afft'ont  Catholic  Europe  and  violate 
Scotch  prejudices  for  nothing.  The  cost  of  the  Earl's 
maintenance  for  two  years  had  been  considerable. 
The  Countess  of  Northumberland  offered  Sir  William 

Nemo  potest  duobus  4  Religion  not    to  be    changed,  whereby  both 

realms  may  be  knit  together  m  amity. 

Verba  sunt  hsec.  5  Difficult  points  to  be  reserved  to  her  Majesty, 

who  will  be  conservatrix  of  the  treaty. 

Statuta  mathematica,  6  Particular  questions  to  be  settled  by  Parlia- 

ante  leges  aut  sine  . 

legislatore.  mam. 

Per  quam  regulam.  "^  Forfeitures  to  be  declared  null,  and  the  dis- 

possessed to  be  returned  to  their  lands. 
Ad  quid  hsec.  g  Her  Majesty  must  see  orders  taken  for  repara- 

tion of  losses  which  we  and  our  friends  have  sus- 
tained. 

Qui  potestatem  sibi  9  Provision  for  Grange    to  remain  in  the  Castle 

assumit  odietur.  ,     .        , 

during  the  King's  minority. 

Venenum  assiduum  iQ  These  terms  to  be  extended  in  the  treaty  for 

8u        ris  ipso       .        their  honour,  surety,  and  weal. 
Vae  quam  profundi    _  11  Convenient  that  these  heads  come  not  to  the 

estiscorde,  etdicitifl      knowledge   of  our  adversaries,  but  ye  may  open 
some  points  thereof  as  from  yourselves. 
February  26 :  MSS.  Scotland. 


1572.]  The  Reign  of  Elizaheth.  849 

Douglas  2000Z.,  and  it  was  not  to  be  expected  that  lie 
would  make  a  present  to  England  of  a  person  whose 
detention  had  been  so  expensive  and  dangerous.  The 
Regent  undertook  that  the  prisoner  should  not  be  re- 
leased, but  he  said  that  if  Elizabeth  looked  for  more 
she  must  change  her  attitude.  She  had  promised  to 
support  the  King  and  assist  in  the  pacification  of  the 
country  ;  if  she  would  keep  her  word  and  put  an  end 
to  the  rebellion,  Scotland  and  all  it  contained  M^ould  be 
at  her  disposition  ;  but  hearing  "  the  brag  of  the  ad- 
versaries that  they  would  outshoot  him  with  his  own 
bow  at  her  Highness's  hands,  her  Majesty  meantime 
continuino:  her  own  estate  in  such  uncertainties,"  he 
could  not  "  provoke  the  King  of  Spain  by  delivering 
up  a  man  who  called  himself  the  said  King's  subject," 
with  no  assurance  after  all  as  to  what  he  was  to  look 
for  at  her  Highness's  hands. ^ 

Elizabeth  saw  that  she  was  trying  the  Regent  too 
far.  The  occupation  of  Leith  and  the  demonstration 
against  Edinburgh  had  cost  Mar  and  his  ft'iends  many 
thousand  pounds.  Elizabeth,  as  a  great  act  of  munifi- 
cence, sent  them  a  thousand,  "  of  which  they  made  as 
much  account  as  if  they  had  received  so  many  pence." 
But  Randolph  was  permitted  afterwards  to  open  a 
negotiation  with  the  Lord  of  Lochleven,  who  under- 
took  to  put  Northumberland  in  the  Queen's  hands  for 
the  sum  which  had  been  offered  by  the  Countess,  inti- 
mating at  the  same  time  that  if  she  refused  his  price 
he  would  make  his  bargain  elsewhere.^ 

Lochleven  was  evidently  in  earnest.  The  Queen 
could  not  lose  her  prize,  and  the  money  was  sent  to 
Berwick  to  be  paid   on  receipt  of  the  Earl's  person. 

1  Mar  to  i;an(loli)h,  Ai)ril  8:  MSS.  Scotlanff. 

2  Kandolpli  and  Drury  to  llunsdon,  April  10:  AfS.  Ibid. 


350  History  of  England.  [Ch.  xxii. 

Morton  still  attempted  to  make  delays,  less  in  pity  for 
Percy  than  in  indignation  at  Elizabeth  ;  but  2000/. 
was  a  temptation  too  considerable  for  a  needy  Scotch 
gentleman  to  resist.  To  Sir  William  Douglas  it  was 
indifferent  whether  he  received  it  from  England  or 
Flanders  ;  but  to  have  restored  Northumberland  to 
liberty  would  have  been  to  part  with  the  last  faint 
thread  of  dependence  which  the  Regent  continued  to 
place  in  the  Queen's  word.  He  contented  himself, 
therefore,  with  entreating  that  at  all  events  the  Earl's 
life  might  be  spared  ;  and  the  unlucky  nobleman  was 
exchanged  at  Coldingham,  on  the  29th  of  May,  for  a 
bag  of  gold.  The  bargain  was  a  bitter  one  to  Scotland. 
The  passions  of  the  people  were  heated  sevenfold ;  the 
treaty  w^as  spoken  of  no  longer,  and  the  fighting  re- 
commenced in  all  its  fury.  But  Elizabeth  had  obtained 
what  she  desired  ;  and  the  wounds  of  the  poor  country, 
whose  interests  she  had  so  lono-  trifled  with,  were  not 
worth  a  thought  to  her.  Her  Ministers  entreated  her 
for  her  own  sake  to  interpose,  but  she  persisted  in  her 
peculiar  policy  of  breaking  every  pi-omise  by  which 
she  had  bound  herself,  when  its  fulfilment  was  incon- 
venient. Randolph  and  Drury  were  recalled ;  and  so 
intense  was  the  exasperation  that  they  were  twice  shot 
at,  and  hardly  extricated  themselves  with  their  lives  ; 
while  Queen's-men  and  King's-men  flew  like  wild 
beasts  at  each  other's  throats  ;  no  quarter  was  given  ; 
and  all  prisoners  on  both  sides  were  hanged.  The 
peaceful  citizens  of  Edinburgh  fled  for  their  lives,  and 
their  houses  were  occupied  and  plundered  by  the  cas- 
tle soldiers. 

Both  sides  being  too  weak  for  ordinary  war,  the 
strufffrle  was  reduced  to  a  series  of  murderous  skir- 
mishes  and  raids  and  massacres ;  while  Elizabeth  was 


1572.]  The  Reign  of  Elizabeth.  351 

allowing  Maitland  to  play  upon  her  vanity  and  fool  her 
with  fair  words  only  less  hollow  than  her  own.^ 

Nor  Avas  Scotland  the  only  scene  of  her  diplomatic 
eccentricities.  The  Anjou  marriage  having  come  to 
notliing,  France  and  England  were  feeling  their  way 
towards  a  league  which  would  answer  as  a  substitute, 
although  all  parties  seemed  to  feel  that  it  would  be  a 
league  of  smoke,  unless  cemented  by  a  union  with 
Anjou's  younger  brother ;  ^  and  both  Burghley  and 
the  Huguenot  leaders  Avere  more  anxious  than  hope- 
ful tliat  the  Queen  might  be  induced  at  last  to  accept 
the  Due  d'Alen9on.  An  incident  had  occurred  in 
Paris,  in  December,  which  showed  the  precarious 
character  of  the  situation,  and  the  extreme  weak- 
ness of  the  King's  Government.  In  the  year  1569, 
two  Protestant  merchants,  known  as  the  brothers 
Gastines,  had  given  offence  to  the  then  all-powerful 
Cardinal  of  Lorraine.  They  had  been  tried  for  treason 
and  executed.  Their  property  had  been  seized,  their 
houses  levelled  to  the  ground,  and  on  the  spot  where 
side  by  side  their  two  houses  had  stood,  the  Catholics 

1  As  for  instance :  —  "  The  stream  we  see  -will  not  serve,  and  therefore  ive 
must  have  recourse  to  the  fountain.  We  Iiave  always  since  the  beginning 
of  the  treaty  had  a  good  will  to  please  your  Majesty.  We  have  for  your 
Ilighness's  only  respect  abstained  from  some  foreign  practices  which  per- 
haps might  have  served  our  turn.  We  know  your  Majesty  to  be  a  Princess 
of  honour  and  great  courage,  and  in  that  point  to  resemble  the  noble  nature 
of  the  lion  which  ye  give  in  your  arras,  that  the  more  we  bow  ourselves  and 
yield  to  j'our  Majesty  the  better  speed  we  shall  have.  We  have  tasted  your 
Ilighness's  goodness  heretofore,  and  that  ye  will  not  disappoint  them  that 
put  their  trust  in  your  Majesty." — Maitland  to  Elizabeth,  May  8:  MSS. 
ScotkiruJ. 

2  "  Entre  el  Key  de  Francia  y  la  Reyna  de  Inglaterra  hay  una  liga  dc 
humo,  pero  dicese  que  es  por  la  esperanza  del  casamiento  entre  la  dicha 
Reyna  y  el  hermano  mas  pequefio  del  Hey,  aunque  todo  el  mundo  es  de 
opinion  que  la  Keyna  no  casara  jamas,  y  assi  los  amigos  son  de  ojiinion  que 
la  liga  no  durara  mucho  tiempo."  —  Avisos  de  Inglaterra,  1572:  MS.  Si- 
mancas. 


352  History  of  England.  [Ch.  xxii. 

of  Paris  had  erected  a  splendid  cross.  On  the  return 
of  peace,  the  Gastines'  children  petitioned  for  the  re- 
moval of  the  offensive  symbol,  and  Charles  directed 
the  Provost  to  see  the  cross  taken  awav.  The  service 
was  considered  so  dangerous  that  the  order  had  to  be 
given  three  times  before  it  was  obeyed,  and  the  young 
Duke  of  Guise,  who  had  just  returned  from  Alva,  has- 
tened to  the  neighbourhood  of  the  capital  to  be  on  the 
spot  if  anything  should  happen,  "  thinking  it  was  good 
policy  for  him  if  he  could  drive  the  Protestants  to  re- 
new the  war."  Happily  the  business  was  over  before 
Guise  reached  the  scene  ;  but  enough  had  taken  place 
to  show  that  the  Catholic  volcano  was  on  the  brink  of 
an  eruption.  The  Provost,  after  some  difficulty,  re- 
moved the  cross  ;  but  the  Catholic  mob  flew  to  arms 
and  surged  about  the  streets,  cursing  the  King,  and 
"  crying  out  to  kill  the  Huguenots."'  Two  or  three 
houses  were  gutted,  and  the  families  found  in  them 
were  murdered.  The  people  wanted  only  leaders  to 
commence  a  general  massacre  ;  and  when  the  riot 
ceased,  it  was  "  rather  by  God's  providence  than  by 
any  good  policy  used  by  the  heads  of  the  town."  ^ 
The  sedition  died  down,  but  the  film  had  been  re- 
moved for  the  moment,  and  revealed  the  fury  which 
was  boiling  in  the  populace  of  the  city ;  and  the  fears 
of  the  Huguenot  leaders,  so  often  repeated  to  Wal- 
singham,  that  the  proscription  and  persecution  would 

1  Advertisement  from  Mr.  Walsingham  from  Paris,  December  29 :  MSS. 
France.  A  highly  curious  and  detailed  account  of  this  cmeute  is  contained 
in  a  letter  from  some  one  at  Paris  to  Sir  William  Fitzwilliam.  It  is 
especially  interesting,  because,  being  within  six  months  before  the  massacre 
of  St.  Bartholomew,  it  describes  a  state  of  feeling  which,  iu  the  writer's 
opinion,  was  leading  inevitably  to  some  such  catastrophe.  Characteristi- 
cally, Sir  William  Fitzwilliam  being  Lord  Deputy  of  Ireland,  the  letter  is 
bviried  by  the  arrangements  at  the  Eecord  Office  among  the  Irish  MSS., 
although  it  does  not  contain  a  single  reference  to  that  country. 


1572.]  Tlie  Reign  of  Elizabeth.  853 

be  revived  if  the  Eii<rlisli  alliance  broke  down,  received 
a  sio-nal  confirmation. 

Sir  Thomas  Smith  went  over  in  January  to  discuss 
the  terms  of  the  treaty  with  Catherine.  She  instantly 
reopened  her  proposal  for  the  Alengon  marriage.  She 
undertook  that  there  should  be  no  difficulties  with  re- 
ligion. The  Duke,  she  said,  should  order  himself  as 
the  Queen  pleased.  The  objections  on  the  score  of 
age  were  so  strong  in  the  case  of  Anjou,  that  the  slight 
addition  to  them  was  of  little  or  no  moment.  A  mar- 
riage with  either  of  the  two  brothers  would  not  have 
been  thought  of  except  for  political  reasons  ;  and  it 
made  little  difference  whether  Ehzabeth  was  twice  as 
old  as  her  intended  bridegroom,  or  his  senior  only  by 
sixteen  years.  Sir  Thomas  Smith  was  decidedly  of 
opinion  that  his  mistress  ought  to  close  with  an  offer 
which  promised  such  splendid  results.  The  marriage 
once  completed,  the  war  for  the  liberation  of  Flanders 
would  immediately  begin.  There  was  no  doubt  of  the 
sincerity  of  the  King,  "  who  was  of  like  disposition 
towards  Elizabeth  as  was  his  grandfather  towards  her 
father ;  "  '•  and  if  her  Majesty  would  proceed  to  take 
profit  of  the  time,  she  might  have  what  amity  she 
would,"  and  might  dictate  the  future  ofEurope.  Only 
he  told  Burghley  that  there  must  be  no  delay.  "  Her 
iVIajesty  must  show  herself  more  resolute  than  she  had 
done  in  the  other  matter,  or  it  would  breed  offence."  ^ 
The  Queen  of  Scots  would  be  no  difficulty.  When 
Sir  Thomas  Smith  informed  Charles  that  she  would 
probably  be  put  to  death,  the  King  shrugged  his  shoul- 
ders and  said  nothing.  When  her  later  performances 
were  detailed  to  liim,  he  merely  answered  "that  he 
saw  she  would  never  rest  till  she  had  lost  her  head  ; 

1  Sir  T.  Smith  to  Burgliley,  January-  9, 10,  11:  MSS.  France. 

VOL.   X.  'li 


354  History  of  England,  [Ch.  xxii. 

he  had  done  his  best  to  help  her,  but  she  would  not ;  "  ^ 
and  Walshidiam,  who  had  talked  the  matter 
^  ' '  over  with  the  Queen  Mother,  impressed  on 

Burghley,  who  was  already  of  the  same  opinion,  that 
"  the  life  of  that  devilish  woman  "  was  the  great  ob- 
stacle to  the  permanence  of  the  alliance.  If  she  were 
once  dead,  all  questions  about  the  English  succession, 
the  disposal  of  her  person,  and  the  government  of 
Scotland  would  be  at  an  end.  Elizabeth's  want  of 
resolution  in  punishing  the  Duke  of  Norfolk,  and  her 
disregard  of  her  own  safety,  left  it  possible  that  she 
might  still  be  murdered,  and  that  the  Queen  of  Scots 
might  succeed,  "  That  doubt  taken  away,  the  King 
would  be  content  to  yield  to  anything  which  Elizabeth 
might  desire."  ^ 

But  Walsingham  said  —  and  he  reported  the  words 
as  the  opinion  of  Coligny  —  "Unless  her  Majesty  did 
proceed  roundly  in  cutting  off  inward  diseases  at  home, 
the  outward  medicine  of  treaties  would  stand  her  in  no 
stead;"  and  Sir  Thomas  Smith  more  plainly:  "If 
her  Majesty  deceive  herself,  and  with  irresolution  make 
all  princes  to  understand  that  there  in  no  certainty  in 
her  Majesty  nor  her  Council,  but  dalliance  and  farding 
off  of  time,  her  Majesty  shall  first  discredit  her  Min- 
isters, which  is  not  much,  but  next  and  by  them  dis- 
credit herself,  to  be  counted  as  uncertain,  irresolute, 
unconstant,  and  for  no  prince  to  trust  unto  —  but  as 
to  a  courtier  who  hath  w^ords  at  will  and  true  deeds 
none."  ^ 

Elizabeth,  hoAvever,  would  give  no  answer  about 
Alen^on,  and  could  not  decide  whether  to  punish  or 

1  Sir  T.  Smith  to  Burghley,  March  22:  Digges. 

2  Walsingham  to  Burghley,  April  4 :  Ibid. 

3  Same  to  the  same,  April  22;  Sir  Thomas  Smith  to  Burghley,  April  22: 
Ibid. 


1572.]  The  Reign  of  Elizabeth.  355 

pardon  the  late  conspirators.     The  same  in  everything 

—  with  Norfolk,  with  the  Queen  of  Scots,  with  Scot- 
land, ^^'ith  her  marriage,  with  the  terms  of  the  alliance 

—  she  could  decide  on  nothing.  From  a  mixture  of 
motives,  some  honourable  to  her,  some  merely  weak, 
some  rising  from  the  twist  in  her  mental  constitution, 
she  hesitated  to  adopt,  and  she  would  not  reject,  the 
means  which  were  pressed  upon  her  for  securing  her 
throne,  and  she  laid  with  flapping  sails  drifting  in  the  ./ 
gale.  '  ■■ 

With  such  spirits  as  they  could  collect  under  these 
hard  circumstances,  the  English  envoys  went  to  work 
upon  the  treaty,  encountering  obstacles  which  only  the 
steadiness  of  the  French  King  prevented  from  being 
insuperable.  The  Pope,  knowing  well  the  stakes 
which  were  being  played  for,  entreated,  prayed,  and 
threatened.  If  Charles  would  come  back  to  his  alle- 
giance to  Holy  Church,  he  offered  to  make  him  Gen- 
eral of  the  Holy  League  against  the  Infidels,  and 
"  Emperor  of  Constantinople."  ^  He  sent  his  blessing, 
and  substantial  tokens  of  it,  to  his  saintly  child  Anjou  ; 
who,  as  Smith  said  in  scorn,  would  make  the  Pope,  in 
recompense,  Caliph  of  Bagdad  —  Summum  Pontificem 
Babylonias.  The  pressure  of  all  Catholic  France  was 
brought  to  bear  against  the  King's  resolution  ;  and, 
considering  his  age  and  training,  his  perseverance  was 
not  a  little  creditable  to  him. 

Among  the  first  conditions  discussed,  was  a  clause 
binding  the  two  Governments  to  stand  by  each  other 
in  case  of  invasion.  Walsingham,  knowing  the  loop- 
holes provided  by  Papal  dispensation,  desired  France 
to  bind  itself  to  support  the  Queen  of  England  if  she 

1  Sir  T.  Smith  to  Burghlcy,  January  18:  MSS.  France. 


•  356  History  of  England.  [Ch.  xxil. 

was  invaded  in  the  name  of  religion.^  The  King 
promised  the  most  liberal  interpretation  of  the  general 
phrase.  He  would  undertake  to  assist  the  Queen  for 
"  any  cause,"  and  "  any  cause  "  implied  religion  ;  but 
he  said  that  he  dared  not  encounter  excommunication 
and  rebellion  with  no  better  security  than  so  far  Eliz- 
abeth would  offer  him.  He  feared,  as  Walsingham 
explained,  that  "  with  her  overmuch  lenity  she  could 
not  in  policy  long  stand ;  "  ^  if  she  would  maiTy  his 
brother,  he  would  say  anything  and  do  anything  that 
she  pleased.^  Burghley  had  argued  in  England  to  the 
same  purpose.  He  told  La  Mothe  that  he  would  gladly 
pass  many  a  sleepless  night  to  bring  the  Queen  to  con- 
sent ;  but  he  doubted  much  if  he  could  succeed.  La 
Mothe,  to  quicken  her  movements,  told  her  that  if  she 
maintained  her  present  attitude,  an  article  would  have 
to  be  introduced  in  favour  of  the  Queen  of  Scots  and 
Scotland;  and  Elizabeth,  in  a  rage,  directed  Sir  T. 
Smith  to  put  in  a  counter-reservation  for  the  protection 
of  Philip  and  Philip's  dominions.* 

Desperate  at  so  extraordinaiy  a  proposition,'^  Wal- 
singham requested  to  be  recalled,  confessing,  "  that  the 
evil  proceedings  of  things  at  home  moved  him  the 
rather  to  make  that  motion."  "  If  her  Majesty,"  he 
added  —  in  language  which  was  as  well  deserved  when 

1  "  Etiamsi  causa  religionis." 

2  Walsingham  to  Burghley,  March  2:  MSS.  France. 

8  "  If  you  can  put  me  in  comfort  that  the  Due  d' Alen9on  shall  not  be  re- 
fused, you  cannot  ask  the  thing  at  their  hands  but  it  shall  be  granted."  — 
Sir  T.  Smith  to  Burghley:   MS.  Ibid. 

4  "  If  they  continue  to  make  difficulties  about  Scotland,  you  shall  move 
that  there  be  a  reservation  made  for  the  King  of  Spain  and  his  countries 
by  name."  —  Elizabeth  to  Sir  T.  Smith :  Digges. 

6  "  The  article  of  the  provision  for  the  King  of  Spain  is  strangely  taken 
here.  The  end  of  the  league  being  only  to  bridle  his  greatness,  to  provide 
for  his  safety  who  seeketh  both  our  destructions,  they  cannot  tell  what  it 
meaneth."  — Walsingham  to  Burghley,  March  — :  Ibi'd. 


1572.]  The  Reign  of  Elizabeth.  357 

the  words  were  written,  as  a  few  months  later  it  must 
have  sounded  hke  a  mockery  —  "if  her  Majesty  do 
think  that  this  prince  is  of  any  value,  who  is  towards 
all  men  sincere,  and  towards  her  Majesty  well  affected, 
she  must  not  weigh  him  in  one  balance  with  Spain."  ^ 
Charles  was  too  anxious  for  the  success  of  the  treaty 
to  press  heavily  on  points  of  difference.  To  the  inter- 
cession for  the  Queen  of  Scots,  Lord  Burghley  replied 
that  "  it  would  be  mere  open  folly  in  her  Majesty  to 
yield  to  anything  which  would  better  her  condition."  ^ 
He  told  La  Mothe  he  would  rather  advise  the  Queen 
to  accept  war  with  France  and  Spain  combined  than 
s^t  her  at  liberty."  ^  But  the  move  in  the  Queen  of 
Scots'  favour  had  been  made  for  form's  sake,  or  as  a 
spur  to  Elizabeth.  The  discoveries  at  Harwich  had 
again  proved  that  Mary  Stuart's  hopes  and  interests 
were  now  exclusively  with  the  Spaniards,  and  the 
Queen  Mother  said  that  they  would  speak  for  her  no 
further.*  The  difficulty  on  the  invasion  clause  was 
got  over  by  the  King  consenting  to  write  an  autograph 
letter  under  the  great  seal  of  France,  construing  the 
language  of  the  treaty  as  the  English  desired.  The 
Scottish  question  was  postponed  to  a  more  convenient 
season,  the  two  Governments  agreeing  to  act  in  con- 
cert about  it ;  ^  and  on  the  19th  of  April,  the  treaty 
so  much  dreaded  by  the  Catholics  between  France  and 
England  was  sealed  and  signed  —  the  Queen  of  Scots, 
to  the  dismay  of  her  friends,  being  passed  over  in  si- 

1  WalsiiiKliam  to  Burghley,  March  — :  Digges. 

2  Noh's  ill  IJiirgliley's  hand,  Mardi  28:  MSS.  Queen  of  Scots. 

3  La  Mothe,  March' 18. 

*  Sir  T.  Smith  to  F.lizabeth,  April  .3:  Diggcs. 

6  "  Consideration  of  the  matters  of  Scotland,  how  the  same  may  be  or- 
dered to  the  conlentation  both  of  France  and  England,  March  28,"  in 
Burghley's  hand:  .1/.S'<S.  Scotland. 


858  History  of  England.  [Ch.  xxil, 

lence.i  Would  it  hold  ?  that  was  the  question  ;  with- 
out the  guarantee  of  the  marriage,  there  were  doubts 
whether  it  was  worth  the  parchment  on  which  it  was 
written.  No  sooner  were  the  terms  agreed  on,  than 
Montmorency,  the  heir  to  the  name  and  policy  of  the 
great  Constable,  "  a  lover  of  England  as  much  as  any 
in  France,"  was  sent  over  with  De  Foix  to  receive  the 
ratification  of  Elizabeth ;  and  at  the  same  time,  for 
the  closer  union  of  the  two  countries,  and  for  the  wel- 
fare of  Christendom,  to  make  a  formal  offer  of  the 
Due  d'Alen^on,  and  sue  at  the  Queen's  feet  for  the 
alliance  with  wdiich  she  had  so  lono;  been  triflinii.  The 
choice  of  Montmorency  for  such  a  mission  removed 
from  the  proposal  all  appearance  of  sectarianism.  The 
marriage  was  not  souo-ht  in  the  interest  of  the  Hugue- 
nots,  but  in  the  interest  of  the  free  spirit  in  France, 
which  was  struggling  to  check  the  Catholic  reaction, 
and  labouring  nobly  to  save  the  fruits  of  the  great 
movement  of  the  past  half  century  from  being  drowned 
in  blood. 

"They  were  going"  —  so  ran  the  instructions  of 
the  French  Government  to  the  two  Envoys  —  "  they 
were  going  to  England  to  complete  a  treaty  which  had 
been  the  subject  of  so  much  anxious  expectation  ;  and 
after  receiving  the  oath  of  the  Queen,  they  would 
offer  her,  in  his  Majesty's  name,  the  hand  of  his 
youngest  brother.  Marriage,  they  would  say,  was  the 
surest  bond  of  treaties.  The  Kino-  had  thought  at 
one  time  tliat  a  union  might  be  brouglit  about  betw^een 
the  Due  d'Anjou  and  the  Queen  of  England  ;  objec- 
tions  had  arisen  from    differences    of  religion,  which 

1  "  En  la  dicha  liga  no  se  trata  nada  de  la  restitucion  6  libertad  de  la 
Reyna  de  Escocia,  por  lo  qiial  parece  que  ella  quedara  como  prisoniera  en 
Inglaterra."  —  Avisos  de  Inglaterra:  MS.  Simancas. 


1572.]  Tlie  Reign  of  Elizabeth.  359 

could  not  be  overcome  ;  but  being  unable  to  part  with 
his  hope,  he  desired  now  to  make  a  second  proposal  of 
the  Due  d'Alenqon,  who  was  better  fitted  in  many- 
ways  for  her  Majesty's  acceptance."  The  Envoys 
would  dwell  on  the  benefits  which  might  be  confidently- 
expected  from  such  a  union.  They  would  say,  that 
there  was  nothing  in  the  world  for  which  the  King  and 
the  Queen  Ins  mother  were  more  ardently  anxious ; 
and  so  sincere  was  Charles  in  his  eagerness,  that  in 
the  belief  that  Leicester  was  still  the  secret  obstacle, 
Montmorency  was  empowered  to  offer  him  the  hand 
of  a  princess  of  the  House  of  Bourbon  as  the  price 
of  his  support.-^ 

They  arrived  in  London  to  witness  the  opening  of 
the  most  remarkable  Parliament  which  had 

May. 

met  since  the  Queen's  accession.  Sliifting 
from  hour  to  hour,  now  inclining  to  France,  and  now 
to  Spain  ;  now  resolute  to  send  Norfolk  to  the  scaffold, 
and  indict  the  Queen  of  Scots  for  treason,  to  send 
troops  to  Scotland  and  end  disorder  there  with  a  high 
hand  ;  now  dreading  that  decision  upon  one  point 
would  bring  with  it  decision  upon  all,  and  perhaps 
oblige  her  to  accept  her  French  suitor  ;  listening  now 
to  Burgldoy  and  Bacon,  now  to  the  insidious  tongues 
w'hich  whispered  about  her  closet  —  Elizabeth  had 
consented  at  last  to  the  calling  of  a  fresh  Parliament, 
where  she  could  learn  the  opinion  of  so  much  of  Eng- 
land as  was  loyal  to  the  throne.  On  the  8th  of  May 
the  session  began.  The  Lord  Keeper's  sjDcech  inti- 
mated generally  that  the  country  was  in  danger. 
There  was  no  special  mention  of  j)orsons  or  things  ; 
but  the  Council  had  made  up  their  minds  to  introduce 

1  Commission  to  Montmorency  and  M.  de  Foix  going  to  England,  April 
6:  LaMothe,  Vol.  VII. 


360  History  of  England.  [Ch.  xxii. 

a  Bill  of  Attainder  against  the  Queen  of  Scots,  and 
to  invite  both  Houses  to  join  in  a  petition  for  justice 
ao-ainst  the  Duke  of  Norfolk.^  At  the  desire  of  the 
Lords,  who,  after  the  arrest  or  flight  of  the  leading 
Catholics,  were  under  Burghley's  control,  a  Committee 
of  the  two  Houses  met  immediately  in  the  Star  Cham- 
ber, to  devise  "  how  to  proceed  with  the  Scotch 
Queen  ;  "  and  on  the  19th,  the  Commons,  after  re- 
ceiving the  Committee's  report,  resolved  to  attaint  her, 
and  so  "  touch  her  in  life  as  well  as  in  title." 

Mary  Stuart,  who  took  her  notions  of  the  disposition 
of  the  English  people  towards  her  from  priests  and  fa- 
natics, so  far  from  conceiving  that  she  was  in  any  danger 
from  the  Parliament,  had  threatened  Elizabeth,  that  if 
an  attempt  was  made  to  cut  her  off  from  the  succes- 
sion, she  would  appeal  by  deputy  and  raise  the  Houses 
against  the  Queen.^  She  little  guessed  the  temper 
which  she  had  succeeded  at  last  in  rousing.  Mary 
Stuart,  the  next  in  blood  to  the  Crown,  the  half-known 
Queen  of  reformed  Scotland  and  tolerant  of  another 
creed  tliough  true  to  her  own  ;  Mary  Stuart,  the  wife 
of  Darnley,  and  sprung  herself  from  a  marriage  de- 
vised by  the  forethought  of  Henry  VII.  for  the  union 
of  the  Crowns :  such  a  Mary  Stuart  had  been  looked 
upon  by  Catholic  England  with  passionate  hope,  and 
by  half-Protestant  England  with  more  than  favourable 
expectation.  Mary  Stuart,  the  murderess,  the  con- 
spirator against  the  life  of  the  Queen ;  Mary  Stuart, 
who  had  sought  to  bring  England  again  under  the  yoke 

1  Leicester  to  "Walsing'ham,  Ma)'  21:  Digges. 

2  "  Je  me  suis  contrainte  par  cette  lettre,  n'ayant  autres  moyen,  protester 
que  si  en  aucun  parleinent  il  se  pretend  faire  quelque  chose  au  prtyiidice  de 
mon  droiet  apres  vous,  men  intention  est  de  m'j'  opposer  et  le  debattre  en 
Tassemblee  d'ung  parlement."  —  Mary  Stuart  to  Elizabeth,  April  30:  La- 
banoff,  Vol.  IV. 


1572.]  Tlie  Reign  of  Elizabeth.  361 

of  tlie  triple  Crown  and  sell  its  liberties  to  the  Spanish 
King  —  this  Mary  Stuart  might  continue  still  an  object 
of  interest  to  the  proud  nobles  of  the  old  blood,  to 
whom  liberty  was  detestable,  or  to  the  venomous  bigots 
■who  knew  no  crime  but  heresy,  and  no  virtue  but  alle- 
giance to  Holy  Church.  But  to  most  even  of  the  rul- 
ing families,  England  was  dearer  than  prejudice.  The 
revelations  on  the  Duke  of  Norfolk's  trial,  and  the  pub- 
lication, late  though  not  too  late,  of  the  true  history  of 
Darnley's  murder,  had  gone  like  an  electric  shock 
through  the  masses  of  the  people ;  and  the  same  men 
who  had  been  the  Qiieen  of  Scots'  friends  in  past  ses- 
sions were  now  ready  and  but  too  willing  to  send  her 
to  the  scaffold. 

As  soon  as  the  Commons  had  passed  their  resolu- 
tion, Convocation  instantly  took  it  up.  The  Queen 
was  understood  to  be  still  determined  to  protect  tho 
Queen  of  Scots.  On  the  20th  the  Archbishops  and 
Bishops  waited  upon  her  in  a  body  at  St.  James's  Pal- 
ace to  explain  to  her  that  it  would  be  a  crime  in  the  sight 
of  God  to  prevent  justice  from  being  done.^  Their 
arguments  were  mainly  theological.  "  Magistrates," 
they  said,  "  were  instituted  by  God  for  the  suppression 
of  wickedness  ;  Mary  Stuart  was  wicked,  and  the 
Queen  would  therefore  offend  in  conscience  if  she  did 
not  punish  her.  "  Respect  of  ])ersons  "  was  partiality, 
whicli  God  had  forbidden  ;  and  whether  the  late  Queen 
of  Scots  was  Queen  or  subject,  stranger  or  citizen,  kin 
or  not  kin,  "by  God's  word  she  deserved  to  sufier, 
and  tliat  ill  the  liighcst  degree."  Saul  spared  Agag 
because  Agag  was  a  king,  and  for  that  I'ault  God  took 

1  M.S.  endorsed  in  IJurf^hley'.s  hand,  "  A  Writing  exhibited  by  tlic  Clergy 
of  tlie  Higher  House  to  the  Queen'.s  Majesty  at  St.  Jame.s's  to  move  her 
Majesty  to  assent  to  .Justice  against  the  Scottish  Queen,  May  20:  "  MSS. 
Mary  Queen  of  Scola. 


362  History  of  England.  [Ch.  xxii. 

the  kingdom  from  Saul.     Aliab  pardoned  Benhadad, 
and  Ahab's  life  was  forfeited.     The   sentence    of  the 
prophet  on  Ahab  "  was  spoken  to  the  Lord  James  Stu- 
art, the  late  Regent  of  Scotland,  when  with  too  great 
lenity  he  proceeded  there  ;  "    and  judgment  was  exe- 
cuted but  too  faithfully  upon  the  Lord  James.     The 
special  Providence  of  God  had  placed  the  Queen  of 
Scots  in  her  Majesty's  hands  to  be  punished  ;  and  if 
her  Majesty  was  found  wanting,  the  Bishops  said  they 
could  but  pray  that  her  own  fate  might  not  be  like  that 
of  the  Regent's.    Those  who  seduced  the  people  of  God 
into  idolatry  were  to  be  slain  ;  there  was  an  express 
order  that  no  pity  should  be  shown  them.     The  Queen 
of  Scots  had  sought  to  seduce  God's  people  in  Eng- 
land :  she  was  the  only  hope  of  God's  adversaries  in 
Europe,  and  the  instrument  by  which  they  trusted  to 
overthrow  the  Gospel.     She  had  heaped  together  all 
the  sins  of  the  licentious  sons  of  David  —  adulteries, 
murders,  conspiracies,  treasons,  blasphemies.      If  she 
was  allowed  to  escape,  God's  wrath  would  surely  light 
on  the  Prince  who  spared  her.     The  safety  of  England 
I'equired  the  death  of   the   devilish  woman  who    had 
sought  to  bring  it  to  confusion :  conscience,  prudence, 
duty  pointed  to  the   same    conclusion.     Her  Majesty 
feared  for  her  honour  :   the  shadow  of  honour  had  de- 
ceived Saul,  and  Ahab  thouo;ht  it  dishonour  that  one 
king   should  slay  another.     But  God's  judgment  was 
not  as  man's.     Joshua,  in  the   spirit  of  true  honour, 
slew  five  kings  at  once,  and  slew  them  rudely.     The 
wicked  Jezebel  and  the  wicked  Athaliah,  both  inferior 
in  mischief  to  the  Queen  of  Scots,  had  been  executed 
with  God's  approval.     To  show  pity  to  an  enemy,  a 
stranger,  a  professed  member  of  Antichrist,  convicted 
of  so  many  heinous  crimes,  with  the  evident  peril  of 


1572.]  Tlie  Reign  of  Elizabeth.  363 

so  many  tliousands  of  bodies  and  souls  of  good  and 
faithful  subjects,  might  justly  be  termed  crudelis  mis- 
ericordia.  " 

So  spoke  the  English  Bishops,  conveying  in  the  lan- 
guage of  the  day  the  conviction  of  the  soundest  under- 
standings ;  yet  Ehzabeth's  reluctance  to  allow  a  Bill  of 
Attainder  to  be  proceeded  with,  was  not  removed  by 
tlieir  arguments,  and  she  was  possibly  provoked  by 
their  interference.  Her  answer  has  not  been  pre- 
served, but  it  was  so  little  satisfactory  that  Burghley 
became  dangerously  ill  with  anxiety.  The  great  min- 
ister would  yield  neither  to  objections  nor  to  sickness. 
He  could  not  stand,  but  he  was  carried  in  his  litter  to 
Parliament.  He  was  carried  in  his  litter  to  the 
Queen's  presence.  He  strained  every  nerve  to  move 
her ;  but  he  still  failed.^  The  Commons  had  ex- 
pressed impatience  that  Norfolk  was  left  unpun- 
ished. Leicester  informed  Walsiniiham  that  he  saw 
no  likelihood  of  the  Duke's  execution.^ 

Profoundly  depressed,  Burghley  nevertheless  held 
on  in  his  course.  If  he  could  not  prevail  upon  the 
Queen  by  persuasion,  he  could  maintain  the  pressure 
of  the  Parliament  upon  her.  The  success  of  the 
French  treaty,  the  future  policy  of  the  French  Gov- 
ernment, depended  on  the  energy  to  which  Elizabeth 
could    be    roused.      Neither    Charles    nor    Catherine 

1  "  The  Commons  are  sound  tliroughoiit,  and  in  the  Lords  there  is  no 
lack;  but  in  the  Highest  person  sucli  slowness  and  such  stay  in  resolution  as 
it  seemeth  God  is  not  pleased  that  the  surety  shall  succeed.  With  this  and 
such  like  I  am  overthrown  in  heart.  I  have  no  spark  of  good  spirits  lel't  in 
me  to  nourish  health  in  my  body,  so  as  now  I  am  forced  to  be  carried  into 
the  I'arliamiiit  House  and  to  her  Majesty's  presence.  To  lament  openly  is 
to  give  more  comfort  to  our  adversaries.  I  see  no  end  of  our  miseries. 
The  fault  is  not  with  us,  yet  it  must  be  so  imputed  for  saving  the  honour  of 
the  Highest."  —  Burghley  to  Walsingham,  May  21:   Digges. 

2  "  Great  suit  is  made  by  the  Netlur  House  to  have  execution  of  the 
Duke,  but  I  see  no  likelihood."  —  Leicester  to  Walsingham,  May  21:  Ibid. 


364  Eistory  of  England.  [Ch.  xxii. 

%vould  risk  the  chances  of  a  European  war  by  the  side 
of  a  woman  whose  life  at  best  was  all  they  had  to 
trust  to,  and  whose  purposes  seemed  yariable  as  the 
wind. 

The  agitation  of  the  House  of  Commons  continued, 
and  the  Queen  at  length  was  forced  in  some  degree  to 
giye  way.  She  persisted  still  that  the  Bill  of  Attain- 
der should  be  dropped  ;  she  said  "  she  could  not  put  to 
death  the  bird  that  had  flown  to  her  for  succour  from 
the  hawk  ;  "  but  she  sent  the  Commons  word  that  she 
would  not  resist  a  measure  of  inferior  severity.  The 
answer  did  not  satisfy  them.  While  the  Queen  of 
Scots  liyed  no  Succession  Bill  would  make  her  a  sin- 
gle degree  less  formidable.  They  continued  to  insist 
upon  hard  measures  ;  and  on  the  morning  of  the  28th 
of  May  a  message  came  from  the  palace  that  the 
Queen  would  receiye  a  deputation  from  the  two 
Houses  and  hear  what  they  had  to  say.  Court  and 
Parliament  were  early  in  their  habits,  and  at  eight 
o'clock  the  Joint  Committee  which  had  recommended 
the  attainder  were  in  -Elizabeth's  presence. 

Thev  said  briefly  that  God  had  given  them  a  sover- 
elgn  with  whose  administration  they  were  generally 
satisfied,  and  that  they  did  not  desire  to  lose  her.  The 
Lady  Mary  Stuart,  a  Queen  of  late  times,  but  through 
her  own  acts  justly  deprived  of  that  dignity,  had 
taken  refuge  in  her  Majesty's  dominions,  her  Majesty 
havino'  once  already  saved  her  from  certain  penalties 
which  "  by  her  horrible  doings  "  she  had  entirely  de- 
served.  Her  Majesty  might  have  legitimately  pro- 
ceeded against  her  for  past  attempts  upon  her  crown. 
Instead  of  doing  so  she  had  befriended  and  protected 
her,  and  the  unnatural  lady  had  rewarded  her  hospital- 
ity by  fresh  conspuracies.     Her  Majesty  considered  that 


1572.]  The  Beign  of  Elizaheth.  365 

she  -svould  be  sufficiently  punished  if  she  was  declared 
im worthy  of  a  place  in  the  succession,  and  if  it  was 
understood  that  should  the  Queen  of  Scots    conspire 
aizain,    "  she    should     suffer    death    without    further 
trouble  of  Parliament."     The  Committee  said  that  for 
themselves  they  believed  any  such  measure  would  be 
found  entirely  inadequate.     To  disable  the   Queen  of 
Scots  from  the  succession  would  indirectly  be  an   ad- 
mission of  her   right,  and    so    far   from    discouraging 
either  her  or  her  friends,  it  would  make   them    only 
more  desperate  and  determined.     Experience  of  Mary 
Stuart's  character    had  proved    that    she    neither    re- 
spected law  nor  feared    danger.     Threats  would    not 
work  upon  her.     She  wanted  neither  wit  nor  cunning, 
and  "  many  would  venture  deep  to  win  a  kingdom." 
Her  Majesty  was  supposed  to  fear  the  opinion  of  for- 
eign princes.     It  was  no  wise  anxiety  to  think  so  much 
of  her  honour  as  to  lose  state,  life,  and  honour   also  ; 
and  should  the   Queen  of  Scots  escape,  foreign  princes 
would  only  think  that  she  had  been    culpably  weak. 
Her  adversaries  would  consider  it  a  miracle,  and   no 
heavier  blow  could  possibly  be  dealt  to  the  cause  of 
Christ  in  Europe.    The  Committee  therefore  entreated 
her  Majesty  "  to  deal  rather  certainly  than  by  chance." 
Merely  to  disable  the   Queen  of  Scots  would  be  more 
beneficial  to  her  than  injurious,  and  would  be  danger- 
ous in  many  ways  to  the  commonwealth.     A  king  in 
another  king's  realm  was  a  private  person,  a  king  de- 
posed was  no  king,  and  the  dignity  of  the  offender  in- 
creased the  offence.     "  Justice  and  equity  were  to  be 
preferred  before   private    affections  ;  "  "  and  to   spare 
offenders  in   the   highest   degree  was  an   injury  to  the 
Prince  and  the  realm."  ^ 

1  /our^ais  o/"  PaWuimen/,  14  Elizabeth :  D'Ewes. 


366  History  of  England.  [Ch.  xxii." 

The  Queen,  whatever  may  have  been  her  private 
impatience,  was  too  prudent  to  reply,  as  she  had  replied 
before  on  other  subjects  to  the  representatives  of  the 
people.  She  admitted  that  the  course  which  the  Com- 
mittee recommended  was  "  the  best  and  surest  way." 
She  was  perfectly  aware  that  so  long  as  the  Queen  of 
Scots  lived,  she  would  never  herself  be  secure ;  yet 
partly  from  weakness,  partly  from  the  peculiar  tender- 
ness which  from  first  to  last  had  characterised  her 
dealings  with  her  cousin,  partly,  it  may  be,  from  an 
instinctive  foresight  of  the  hard  construction  of  pos- 
terity, she  shrank  from  granting  what  she  could  no 
longer  positively  refuse.  She  thanked  the  Houses  for 
their  care  for  her  safety.  She  asked  them  only  to 
"  defer  their  proceedings  "  for  a  time,  and  pass  the  less 
extreme  measure  meanwhile.  The  Law  Officers  of  the 
Crown,  she  said,  could  contrive  means  of  evading  the 
particular  difficulty  which  the  Committee  had  raised. 

However  carefully  expressed,  the  meaning  of  this 
was  but  too  obvious.  "  The  bosom  serpent  "  was  still 
to  be  shielded  from  justice,  and  the  Catholics  abroad 
and  at  home  were  to  construe  Elizabeth's  infirmity 
into  fear,  or  into  blindness  inflicted  upon  her  by  Provi- 
dence. There  was  no  present  remedy  :  the  Queen 
of  Scots  was  safe ;  but  the  same  plea  could  not  be 
urged  in  defence  of  the  companion  of  her  treasons. 
The  Duke  of  Norfolk  was  no  anointed  prince  whose 
sanctity  might  not  be  violated,  and  the  suspense  with 
him  too  had  been  set  down  to  miracle.  Their  first  re- 
quest being  evaded,  the  Lords  and  Commons  were  the 
more  determined  that  their  second  should  be  granted ; 
and  they  petitioned  in  form  that  the  Duke  should  be 
executed  without  further  delay. 

On  this  point,  with  the  deepest   reluctance,  Eliza- 


1572.]  Tlie  Reign  of  Elizabeth.  367 

Letli  felt  that  she  must  yield.  She  desired  only  that  the 
petition  should  be  withdrawn,  that  she  might  ^^^^ 
save  her  credit  and  be  supposed  to  be  acting 
freely.  She  once  more  signed  the  warrant,  which  this 
time  was  not  withdrawn,  and  earlvon  the  2d  of  June  the 
Duke  was  led  out  to  suffer  on  Tower  Hill.  In  the  few 
words  which  he  addressed  to  the  people,  he  still  called 
himself  innocent.  He  said,  as  he  had  said  at  his  trial, 
that  treasonable  overtures  had  been  made  to  him,  but 
that  he  had  not  consented  to  them  ;  and  he  declared 
that  he  had  never  been  a  party  to  any  conspiracy  for 
bringing  the  Spaniards  into  England.  His  protesta- 
tions cannot  avail  his  memory.  His  instructions  to 
Ridolfi,  and  his  own  letter  which  survives  at  Simancas, 
leave  no  room  for  doubt  that  he  was  lying.  He,  added, 
and  he  called  God  to  witness,  "  that  he  never  was  a 
Papist  since  he  knew  what  religion  meant,"  "  that  he 
had  always  detested  Papistry  and  still  detested  it." 
The  Spanish  agent  of  the  Duke  of  Alva,  who  wit- 
nessed the  execution,  could  suppose  only  that  in  mak- 
ing an  assertion  so  opposite  to  his  declaration  to  the 
Pope,  he  was  nourishing  to  the  last  some  hope  of  par- 
don.^ 

He  was  desired  to  be  brief.  No  respite  came,  if  he 
looked  for  it.  He  shook  hands  with  all  who  were 
standing  round  him,  gave  the  executioner  a  purse  of 
sovereigns,  knelt,  said  a  few  prayers,  and  recited  the 
51st  Psalm.  It  was  observed  that  at  the  18th  verse 
he  altered  the  words,  and  for  "  Build  thou  the  walls 
of  Jerusalem,"  said,  "  Buikl  tliou  the  walls  of  Eng- 
land." He  then  threw  off'  his  cloak,  refused  to  allow 
his  eyes  to  l)c  blinded,  laid  his  head  upon  the  block, 
and  died  at  a  IjIow. 

1  "  Algunos  lian  juzgado  que  decia  csto  con  esperanza  de  perdoii."  —  An- 
tonio de  Guaras  al  Duquc  dc  Alva,  June,  1572:  MS.  Bimancna. 


368  History  of  England.  [Ch.  xxir. 

It  has  been  eloquently  said  that  the  grass  soon  grows 
over  blood  shed  upon  the  battle-field,  but  never  over 
blood  shed  upon  the  scaffold.  Treason  is  an  offence 
which  rarely  exists  without  seeming  excuse.  It  pleads 
at  the  bar  of  history  as  an  effort,  if  an  unwise  one,  to 
vindicate  an  honourable  cause  ;  and  when  the  calami- 
ties which  it  has  occasioned  or  threatened  to  occasion 
are  forgotten  or  have  ceased  to  be  feared,  compassion 
for  the  sufferer  is  changed  by  an  easy  transformation 
into  condemnation  of  his  judges.  The  most  exagger- 
ated sentiment  will  scarcely  venture  to  censure  the 
punishment  of  Norfolk.  Others  were  perhaps  more 
faulty  than  he  had  been.  He  was  drawn  unwillingly 
into  the  conspiracy,  and  his  infirmity  of  purpose  was 
the  principal  cause  of  its  failure  ;  but  his  reluctance 
was  an  aggravation  of  his  guilt,  for  it  was  the  confes- 
sion of  the  absence  of  any  generous  motive  which 
could  have  excused  him.  He  was  no  Catholic  fanatic 
burning  with  misplaced  zeal  for  God's  honour  ;  he  was 
uo  patriot  legitimately  displeased  with  the  misgovern- 
ment  of  his  covmtry.  He  was  tempted  into  disloyalty 
by  the  poor  personal  ambition  of  becoming  a  husband 
of  a  woman  whom  he  knew  to  be  infamous,  and  he 
had  dishonoured  his  lineage  with  perjury  and  cow- 
ardice. 

Parliament  meanwhile  was  occupied  with  the  second 
measure  against  the  Queen  of  Scots  which  Elizabeth 
had  affected  to  recommend.  The  one  effective  means 
of  cutting  her  off  from  the  succession  would  have  been 
the  recognition  of  her  son  ;  but  Elizabeth,  for  her  o\Yn 
reasons,  would  not  hear  of  this  ;  and  on  the  5th  of 
June  the  Attorney-General  brought  in  a  Bill  which 
w^as  said  to  have  received  her  approbation,  with  an  in- 
timation from  her  Majesty  that  she  wished  it   to  be 


1572.]  file  Reign  of  Elizabeth,  369 

passed  as  soon  as  possible.  The  provisions  are  but 
generally  known,  for  it  never  became  law,  and  Eliza- 
beth never  seriously  intended  to  sanction  it.  She  pro- 
fessed to  fear  that  it  would  mve  offence  to  France. 
The  meaning  of  this  will  be  presently  seen.  She  had 
made  her  position  extremely  perplexing  —  perplexing 
to  herself  and  perplexing  to  all  who  had  to  deal  with 
her.  The  French  Government,  till  they  were  sure  of 
her,  still  kept  on  hand  their  double  policy.  The  de- 
spatches of  La  Mothe,  who  as  a  Catholic  was  not  ad- 
mitted to  a  full  knowledge  of  State  secrets,  are  full  of 
interest  in  the  Queen  of  Scots,  and  imply  or  seem  to 
imply  an  equal  interest  on  the  part  of  Charles  and 
Catherine,  Yet  Walsingham  at  the  same  time  could 
write  from  Paris,  "  that  as  long  as  the  Queen  of  Scots 
lived  there  would  never  grow  good  accord  in  Scotland, 
nor  continuance  of  repose  in  England,  nor  perfect  and 
sound  amity  between  her  Majesty  and  the  French 
Crown."  ^  The  situation  is  generally  intelligible,  the 
details  on  many  points  remain  obscure. 

The  IJill,  in  compliance  with  Elizabeth's  seeming 
wishes,  was  laboured  over  by  Lords  and  Commons, 
formino;  almost  the  entire  business  of  the  remainder  of 
the  session.  At  length  it  was  passed.  On  the  oOth 
of  June  the  Queen  came  down  to  the  House  of  Lords 
to  give  her  consent,  but,  instead  of  consenting,  she  said  _ 
she  would  think  over  it  during  the  summer,  and  pro-  % 
rogued  the  Parliament  till  October.  "  We  made  a 
law,"  Burghley  wrote  to  Walsingham,  "  to  make  the 
Scottish  Queen  unalile  and  unworthy  of  succession  to- 
the  crown.  It  was  by  her  Majesty  neither  assented  ta 
nor  rejected,  but  deferred  to  All  Saints.  What  all 
other  good  and  wise  men  think  thereof  you  may  guess> 

1  Walsingham  to  Burghley,  Juno  28:  Digges. 
VOL.  X.  24 


370  History  of  England.  [Ch.  xxil. 

Some  here  have,  as  it  seems,  abused  their  favour  about 
her  Majesty  to  make  herself  her  worst  enemy.  God 
amend  them.  I  will  not  write  to  you  M^ho  are  sus- 
pected." ^ 

And  now  what  answer  was  to  be  given  to  Montmo- 
rency and  to  the  offer  of  the  Due  d'Alen9on  ?  More 
tremendous  issues  were  hanging  upon  Elizabeth's  de- 
cision than  she  knew  of.  But  she  did  know  that 
France  was  looking  to  her  reply  —  was  looking  to  her 
general  conduct,  to  ascertain  whether  she  would  or 
would  not  be  a  safe  ally  in  a  war  with  Spain,  and  that 
on  her  depended  at  that  moment  whether  the  French 
Government  would  take  its  place  once  for  all  on  the 
side  of  the  Reformation. 

An  event  which  had  just  taken  place  on  the  coast 
of  Holland  had  increased  the  gravity  of  the  situation, 
and  made  the  Queen's  decision  more  than  ever  mo- 
mentous. 

It  was  seen  that  the  expulsion  of  Don  Guerau  was 
a  signal  for  the  refugees  to  make  fresh  efforts  to  rouse 
Philip.  The  language  of  Reginald  Pole  was  revived 
by  the  Ultramontane  faction,  whose  own  desire  was  to 
see  Don  John  of  Austria  come  northward  with  the 
squadron  of  Lepanto,  and  commence  another  crusade 
against    the    Turks    of  their    own    country.^     As  the 

1  Burghley  to  Walsingham,  July:  Digges. 

2  "  Our  contraries  say  they  will  have  help  now,  in  consequence  of  the 
great  overthrow  that  Duke  John  of  Austria  hath  given  to  the  Turk ;  and 
that  his  next  enterprise  shall  be  to  subdue  the  English  Turks,  which  may 
easily  be  performed  as  they  say,  considering  the  great  force  of  foreign 
powers  which  he  shall  bring  with  him,  together  with  the  great  aid  he  shall 
have  as  well  with  us  as  with  the  Scots."  —  Lee  to  Burghley,  December  7: 
1571-    Lee  was  one  of  Cecil's  spies  in  Flanders. 

Sir  Francis  Englefield  writes  in  the  same  strain  to  some  one  in  Spain: 
"  Ego  quidem  nee  breviorem  nee  commodiorem  viam  his  mails  subvenien- 
dis  video,  quam  ut  Sua;  Majestatis  mandato  Illustrissimus  Princeps  Don 
John  dc  Austria  revocetur  et  in  Oceanum  ex  Marl  Mediterraneo  cum  spe 


1572.]  The  Reign  of  Elizabeth.  371 

Catholic  party  was  losing  its  national  character  and 
passing  into  vulgar  conspiracy,  the  conduct  of  it  fell 
more  and  more  to  the  brood  of  English  clergy  at  Lou- 
vaine.  They  were  men  whose  all  in  all  in  earth  or 
heaven  was  the  faith  of  the  Church  ;  and  one  amonor 
them  especially,  Nicholas  Sanders,  once  an  Oxford 
student,  who  had  kindled  his  piety  at  the  flames  which 
burnt  Cranmer,  was  sent  for  to  Rome,  to  Pope  Pius, 
to  consult  on  the  best  means  of  setting  the  rebellion 
on  its  feet  again. ^ 

In  England,  meanwhile,  there  remained  to  represent 
Spain,  when  Don  Guerau  was  gone,  the  two  Commis- 
sioners, Antonio  de  Guaras  and  M.  Schwegenhem,  who 
had  been  employed  by  Alva  to  negotiate  the  commer- 
cial quarrel.  With  the  Ambassadors  on  both  sides 
dismissed,  and  the  privateers  which  infested  the  Chan- 
nel, Elizabeth  and  Philip  were  at  war  in  all  but  the 
name ;  but  the  conspiracy  having  come  to  nothing, 
both  thev  and  Alva  had  their  reasons  for  wishincr  to 
avoid  an  open  rupture.  Alva  was  beginning  his  great 
scheme  of  taxation,  by  which  the  Netherlands  were  to 
pay  the  cost  of  their  conquest.  His  abihty  in  the 
field  was  rivalled  by  his  incapacity  as  an  administrator  ; 
and  the  manufacturers  and  artisans  of  Brusres  and 
Ghent  and  Antwerp,  who  had  learnt  to  endure  the 
Inquisition,  were  threatening  to  resist  in  arms  the  con- 
fiscation of  their  property.  The  Prince  of  Orange 
was  watching  his    oj)portunity  to  turn  the  mutiny  to 

Buis  copiis  veniat  remque  feliciter  aggrediatur.  Quod  ,si  fecerit,  spes  reniedii 
certa  est;  nee  profecto  ifa  luculenta  spes  lucri  ad  Rempublicam  Christianam 
perv'enturi  effulget,  si  tam  numerosa  veterum  Christianorum  multitudo  per- 
mittatur  se  in  novos  Turcas  convertere;  dum  incerta  spe  insistatur  veteri 

ex  Turca  novos  Christianos  effici  posse."  —  Sir  F.  Englelield  to :   .\fS. 

Simnncris. 

1  N.  Sanders  to  tlie  Earl  of  Northumberland,  January-  2.'i :  MSS.  Flan- 
ders. 


872  History  of  England.  [Ch.  xxii. 

account,  and  Alva  was  well  aware  of  the  intentions 
with  which  France  and  England  had  drawn  together. 
His  object  was,  if  possible,  to  divide  them,  and  when 
the  Spanish  Ambassador  was  dismissed,  he  bore  the 
insult  and  did  not  recall  the  Commissioners,  and  Eliz- 
abeth, for  her  own  purposes,  was  willing  that  they 
should  remain.  The  reopening  of  the  Flanders  trade 
was  of  great  importance  to  London,  and  the  Queen  was 
glad  to  keep  in  play  with  Spain  as  a  means  of  escape, 
should  all  else  fail,  from  the  embraces  of  Alen^on.  She 
began,  therefore,  at  last,  to  interfere  seriously  to  put 
down  the  privateers ;  their  prizes  were  occasionally 
taken  from  them  and  restored  to  the  owners ;  and  al- 
though De  la  Mark,  the  admiral,  complained  that  "  he 
was  but  making  war  against  the  common  enemy,  the 
Duke  of  Alva,"  he  was  told  that  if  he  remained  any 
longer  on  the  English  coast,  he  would  be  treated  as  a 
pirate.^  The  officers  of  the  ports  were  forbidden  to 
furnish  him  with  supplies,  and  the  English  sailors  on 
board  his  ships  received  orders  to  leave  them.  It  had 
been  argued  in  the  Admiralty  Courts  that  "  the  Prince 
of  Orange,  having  his  principality  of  his  title  in  France, 
might  make  lawful  war  against  the  Duke  of  Alva ;  " 
and  that  the  Queen  would  violate  the  rules  of  neutral- 
ity if  she  closed  her  ports  against  his  cruisers.^  Schwe- 
genhem  was  informed,  however,  that  this  objection 
would  no  longer  be  maintained  ;  the  privateers  should 

1  De  la  Mark  to  the  Council,  January,  1572. 

-  "  Aliqua  rations  injuriosum  videri  potest  immiscere  se  actibus  et  litibus 
exterorum  pricipum  qualis  est  iste  Princeps  Orengianus,  quern  constat 
liberum  esse  Principem  Imperii;  et,  ut  apparet,  eum  ipsi  Imperatori  et 
Statubus  Imperii  acceptum  turn  etiam  Galliarum  Regi,  in  quo  regno  posses- 
siones  multas  obtinet,  satis  gratum."  —  Responsio  AriicuKs  quibusdam  a 
Domino  Schwegenhem  propositis,  YehTunry  22:  MSS.  Flanders. 

"  Sum  of  the  answer  made  to  M.  Schwegenliem  attending  for  the  King 
Catholic,  February  22."     Burghley's  hand :  MSS.  Spain. 


1572.]  The  Reign  of  Elizaheth.  373 

be  obliged  to  withdraw ;  and  her  Majesty  trusted  that 
the  Duke  of  Alva  would  recognise  the  good  faith  with 
which  she  was  acting.  English  noblemen,  English 
priests,  and  others  engaged  in  levying  war  against  their 
native  country,  were  notoriously  entertained  and  as- 
sisted in  the  dominions  of  the  King  of  Spain  ;  the 
Queen  expected  that  the  King  would  follow  her  exam- 
ple, and  in  return  for  the  expulsion  of  the  Prince  of 
Orange's  fleet,  would  send  these  persons  about  their 
business. 

Deep  treachery  on  both  sides  lay  concealed  beneath 
these   hollow  courtesies  ;  yet  both  Elizabeth 

«'  April. 

and  Alva  desired  to  leave  a  loophole  for  rec- 
onciliation in  case  of  a  rupture  with  France.  The 
outstanding  differences  were  not  settled ;  the  captured 
money  was  not  restored;  but  a  temporary  commercial 
treaty  was  drawn  up,  to  last  for  two  years,  and  trade 
between  England  and  the  Low  Countries  was  reopened 
by  proclamation  on  the  30th  of  April. 

The  secret  conspiracies,  meanwhile,  were  not  relaxed 
on  either  side.  The  refugees  still  remained  at  Lou- 
vaine,  as  busily  employed  as  ever,  and  Alva  continued 
to  aim  through  Scotland  at  Elizabeth's  unguarded  side  ; 
while  the  private  meaning  of  the  expulsion  of  De  la 
Mark  was  revealed  in  an  exploit  which  had  been  long 
concerted,  and  which  formed  a  notable  comment  upon 
the  good  faith  with  which  the  English  Government 
pretended  to  be  acting. 

The  order  to  leave  England  was  sent  down  to  De  la 
Mark  the  last  week  of  February.  He  lingered  at 
Dover,  with  the  connivance  of  the  officers  of  the  har- 
bour, till  the  end  of  March,  when  a  convoy  of  Spanish 
traders  on  their  way  to  Antwerp  appearing  in  the 
Straits,  he  at  last  put  to  sea.     It  has  been  said  that  he 


374  History  of  England.  [Ch.  xxil. 

started  with  no  definite  intentions,  that  by  Ehzabeth's 
orders  he  was  unsupphed  even  with  provisions,  and 
that  what  he  accomphshed  was  under  the  impulse  of 
desperation.^  It  was  convenient  both  for  EHzabeth 
and  De  la  Mark  that  it  should  be  so  represented  to  the 
world  ;  but  the  Spanish  Ambassador  had  sent  a  sketch 
of  the  projected  movement  six  months  previously  to 
Alva,^  and  the  buccaneering  interest  was  too  powerful 
at  Dover  to  have  allowed  such  instructions  to  have 
been  executed  were  it  true  that  they  had  been  seri- 
ously given. 

De  la  Mark's  first  step  on  clearing  the  harbour  was 
to  dash  upon  the  merchant  fleet.  Two  large  vessels, 
one  of  which  was  worth,  it  was  said,  60,000  crowns, 
were  taken,  and  their  crews  flung  overboard. ^  The 
rest  fled  up  Channel  with  the  rovers  in  close  chase. 
A  few  days  later  the  privateer  squadron  was  seen 
anchoring,  at  daybreak,  in  the  mouth  of  the  Meuse, 

1  Rise  of  the  Dutch  Republic,  Vol.  II.  p.  351. 

2  "  Para  saber  mas  a  los  Franceses  y  asegurarles  desta  voluntad,  me  hiz6 
la  Reyna  de  Inglaterra  salir  de  su  Reyno,  que  hasta  entonces  los  Franceses 
decian  que  aquella  Reyna  pretendia  la  amistad  de  Francia,  solamente  para 
negociar  mejor  con  V.  Magd,  y  assi  con  mi  salida  penso  darles  seguridad 
desta  sospecha,  como  ello  ha  sido,  y  asi  han  concluido  su  liga,  para  la  con- 
firmacion  de  la  qual  en  Inglaterra  se  celebra  gran  lamento,  y  se  guardau 
alii  el  Marshal  de  Montmorency,  y  en  Francia  el  Almirante  de  Inglaterra :  y 
en  el  entretanto  ha  traiado  lapresa  de  Brilla  y  levantamiento  de  las  tierras  de 
Zeeland.  Desta  presade  la  Brilla  tuvoel  Embajador  aviso  en  Inglaterra  seis 
meses  antes  que  se  executase,  y  did  aviso  delta  al  Duque  de  Alva.  No  entien- 
den  sino  en  robar  los  subditos  de  V.  Mag^i,  }'  alterarle  los  Parses  Baxos, 
para  repartirlos  eutre  si  y  el  Duque  de  Anjou  y  Principe  de  Orange,  y 
destruir  la  Religion  Catolica  en  toda  parte,"  &c.  —  Relacion  dada  por  Don 
Guerau  de  Espes.     Autograph:  MS.  Simancas. 

8  "  La  tlote  de  Flandres  qui  revenoit  d'Espaigne  est  passee  le  xxviii.  de 
Mars  dans  I'estroict  de  Calais;  et  les  vaisseaulx  du  Prince  d'Orange  ont 
donn^  sur  la  queue ;  qui  ont  prins  deux  ourques  bien  riches;  dent  I'une 
s'estime  valloir  plus  de  soixante  mille  escus,  y  ont  jette  la  pluspart  de  ceulx 
qui  estoient  dedans  hors  bort  dans  I'eau."  —  La  Mothe  Fenelon,  April  14: 
Depeches,  Vol.  IV. 


1572.]  Tlie  Reign  of  Elizabeth.  375 

opposite  the  town  of  Bi'ille.  A  boat  came  on  shore, 
with  a  summons  to  the  Governor  to  surrender  to  the 
Admiral  of  the  Prince  of  Orange  within  two  hours. 
He  might,  perhaps,  have  resisted,  for  the  batteries  were 
well  armed ;  but  the  terror  of  De  la  Mark's  name 
struck  the  citizens  into  a  panic.  They  fled  in  all  di- 
rections, taking  with  them  as  much  property  as  they 
could  carry.  The  crews  landed,  burnt  the  gates,  and 
entered  without  difficulty.  The  churches  were  plun- 
dered, thirteen  miserable  monks  and  priests,  who  had 
neglected  to  escape,  were  murdered ;  but  there  were 
no  further  outrages,  and  "  the  sea  beggai's  "  had  firm 
and  quiet  possession  of  an  important  station  which  by 
land  was  all  but  impregnable.  Count  Bossu,  Alva's 
Stadtholder,  flew  from  Utrecht  to  the  rescue  ;  but  he 
found  the  dvkes  cut  and  the  country  under  water. 
Brille,  for  the  present,  was  lost.  Rotterdam  was  likely 
to  revolt  at  the  news,  and  thither  Bossu  hastened,  to 
find  the  gates  closed  and  entrance  refused.  Promises 
made  to  rebels  and  broken  when  they  had  answered 
their  purpose,  were  the  legitimate  stratagems  of  Span- 
ish warfare.  Bossu  entreated  only  that  his  men  might 
be  allowed  to  pass  through,  and  swore  that  no  hurt 
should  be  done  to  any  one.  The  burghers  weakly  con- 
sented, and  to  prevent  the  contagion  from  spreading, 
there  was  a  general  massacre  of  men,  women,  and 
children.  But  Bossu  gained  little  by  his  treachery. 
Preparations  had  been  made  all  along  the  coast  towns 
for  a  rising,  and  De  la  Mark's  arrival  was  the  signal 
for  it  to  break  out.  The  success  at  Brille  was  scarcely 
known  in  England,  when  news  came  that  Flushing 
had  risen  also,  overpowered  its  garrison,  and  fired  upon 
Alva's  fleet.  The  English  Government  had  lighted' 
the  train,  and  looked  quietly  on.     The  excitement  in 


876  History  of  England,  [Ch.  xxit. 

London  was  uncontrollable.  Torrents  of  money  poured 
out  of  the  Protestant  churches,  and  streamed 
across  the  Channel  converted  into  guns  and 
powder.  The  Flemish  exiles  formed  in  companies 
and  went  to  join  their  comrades,  accompanied  by  hun- 
dreds of  English  volunteers,  and  the  cry  rose  in  Par- 
liament and  out  of  it  to  drive  the  accursed  Spaniards 
out  of  the  Provinces  forever.^  The  Bishops  petitioned 
Elizabeth  to  declare  war  and  complete  the  work.  But 
It  seemed  at  first  as  if  no  help  was  needed.  Through 
Zealand,  Holland,  Utrecht,  Overyssel,  port  after  port 
followed  the  example  of  Flushing.  Enkhuizen,  the 
Spanish  arsenal  on  the  Zuyder  Zee,  Dort,  Leyden, 
Haarlem,  Alkmaar,  all  rose,  destroyed  or  expelled 
their  garrisons,  and  raised  the  standard  of  freedom. 
The  time  was  come  for  which  Orange  had  been  so  long 
looking  and  preparing.  While  the  Prince  himself 
collected  an  army  in  Germany,  Count  Louis,  La  None, 
De  Genlis,  and  other  Huguenot  leaders,  with  the  con- 
nivance of  the  French  Court,  stooped  suddenly  upon 
Hainault,    seized    Mons,    and   threw    into  it  2000  of 

1  On  the  24th  of  May  De  Guaras  writes:  —  "  Es  increible  cosa  las  pas- 
siones  desta  gente:  con  toda  la  solicitud  que  pueden,  envian  todas  las 
municiones,  dineros  y  ayuda,  k  la  Brilla  y  Flushing,  y  mucha  gente  dellos, 
y  asimismos  persuaden  a  muchos  Ingleses  ir  alia.  Por  las  calles  hay  gran- 
des  lamentaciones  por  la  fama  que  han  echado,  de  que  en  Rotterdam  no 
solamente  mataron  a  todos  los  hombres,  pero  a  todas  las  mugeres  y  ninos, 
y  asi  lo  creen  todos  los  Ingleses,  que  la  mejor  palabra  es  que  somos  tiranos, 
y  a  proposito  desto  en  este  parlamento  hacen  gran  instancia  los  que  se 
nombran  Obispos  especjalmente  que  conviene  al  estado  de  Inglaterra  pub- 
licar  guerra  contra  su  Magd,  y  esto  lo  tratan  con  gran  vehemencia." 

And  again  on  the  29th :  — 

"  De  las  nuevas  que  vienen  de  ay  de  los  trabajos  que  hoy  se  ofrecen  es 
increible  el  contentamicnto  que  nuestros  rebeldes  y  cassi  todo  este  pueblo 
tienen  dello,  y  lo  menos  que  dicen  todos  con  grandes  voces  en  Ja  Bolsa  y 
por  todas  las  calles,  es  que  esos  Estados  son  perdidos  del  todo ;  y  que  vues- 
tra  Excellencia  con  los  Espafioles  que  ay  se  hallan  han  de  salir  de  la  tierra." 
Antonio  de  Guaras  al  Duque  de  Alva:  MS.  Simancas. 


1572.]  The  Reign  of  Elizabeth.  377 

CoJigny's  bravest  troops.  Montgomery  joined  him  a 
few  clavs  later  with  1500  more,  and  De  Genlis  went 
back  to  Paris  to  bring  up  reinforcements  which  Charles 
himself  had  promised. 

The  Duke  of  Alva  had  been  on  the  point  of  relin- 
quishing his  government ;  his  successor  was  at  last 
actually  on  his  way,  and  he  believed  that  he  had  ex- 
tinguished in  blood  the  last  spark  of  the  insurgent 
spirit.  He  had  raised  a  monument  to  his  own  great- 
ness in  the  Great  Square  at  Brussels,  as  Conqueror  of 
the  Netherlands,  and  now  the  Netherlands  were  not 
conquered  ;  the  great  marts  of  industry  were  nests  of 
maddened  hornets ;  and  the  dreaded  French  were  in  a 
fortified  town  a  few  leagues  distant  from  the  capital. 
Disasters  came  thick  on  one  another.  Medina  Cell 
sailed  into  the  Scheldt,  with  some  thousands  of  fresh 
troops,  and  chests  of  bullion  to  pay  them.  Dreaming 
of  no  danger,  he  passed  under  the  guns  of  Flushing, 
and  lost  half  his  fleet  and  all  his  monev.  A  thousand 
Spanish  soldiers  were  taken,  and  half  a  million  crowns 
in  gold  and  jewels.  Alva  well  knew  the  meaning  of 
these  sj-mptoms.  Unless  he  could  divide  France  and 
England,  or  bring  about  a  Catholic  revolution  in  one 
or  both  of  those  countries,  in  a  few  months  the  armed 
hand  of  the  united  Protestantism  of  the  world  would 
be  upon  him,  and  crush  him  into  dust.  The  Catholics 
of  England  had  failed  him,  and  he  had  no  leisure  now 
for  Scotch  experiments  ;  would  the  French  Catholics 
succeed  better  ?  "  He  tore  his  beard  for  despite," 
and  to  one  who  saw  and  spoke  with  him,  "  he  seemed 
to  despair  that  things  would  any  more  succeed  as  they 
had  done."  But  Alva  knew  better  than  to  sit  down 
in  despondency.  WalcJieren  was  not  lost,  for  Middle- 
burgh  held  out,  and  was  safe  for  the  summer.     Ijeav- 


378  History  of  England.  [Ch.  xxn. 

ing  the  revolted  towns  to  enjoy  their  freedom,  he  con- 
centrated his  force  at  Ghent,  Brussels,  and  Antwerp. 
A  change  of  government  at  such  a  time  was  not  to  be 
thought  of.  Medina  Celi,  by  his  own  act,  suspended 
his  commission.  Mons  was  chosen  for  the  first  point 
to  be  attacked  ;  while  the  Duke  directed  all  the  re- 
sources of  diplomatic  adroitness  on  the  Anglo-French 
alliance.  In  England,  his  best  hopes  were  with  Eliza- 
beth herself,  on  whom  he  could  woi'k  through  the  back 
influences  of  the  bed-chamber ;  in  France,  he  looked 
to  Catholic  fanaticism,  which  was  lashing  itself  to  mad- 
ness at  the  ascendancy  of  the  Huguenots  at  the  Court, 
and  at  the  control  which  they  were  assuming  over  the 
public  policy  of  the  nation.  Whatever  skill,  courage, 
and  ferocity  could  achieve  in  the  way  of  assistance,  he 
could  calculate  upon  with  certainty  from  the  Cardinal 
of  Lorraine,  the  Duke  of  Guise,  and  the  mob  of  Paris. 
Had  the  Royal  Family  been  as  Protestant  as  Coligny 
himself,  they  could  not  maintain  themselves  in  a  lib- 
eral policy  without  England  to  support  them.  They 
must  have  yielded  to  the  Catholics,  or  they  would 
themselves  be  the  first  victims  of  an  otherwise  inevi- 
table collision. 

So  matters  stood  when  the  English  Parliament  rose, 
and  Elizabeth  had  to  decide  on  the  Alengon 
marriage.  The  French  Court  were  at  the 
moment  giving  another  proof  to  Europe  of  their  Hu- 
guenot sympathies.  A  second  marriage  had  been  ar- 
ranged between  the  Princess  Margaret  and  the  young 
King  of  Navarre.  The  Catholics  had  struggled  des- 
perately to  prevent  it,  but  Charles  had  been  resolute. 
At  the  beginning  of  June,  a  magnificent  state  recep- 
tion was  given  to  the  bridegroom  at  Paris.  After  a 
week  of  splendour  the  Court  broke  up,  and  went  into 


1572.]  Tlie  Reign  of  Mkaheth.  379 

the  country,  to  reassemble  in  Anoust ;  when  tlie  whole 
French  nobility,  Protestant  and  Catholic,  were  to  be 
present  at  the  royal  nuptials.  Lord  Lincoln,  who  had 
come  over  for  the  ratification  of  the  treaty,  returned 
to  England  loaded  with  presents  ;  and  the  King  at  his 
departure  expressed  a  hope  that  his  sister's  would  not 
be  the  only  marriao;e  on  which  those  who  wished  well 
to  Europe  would  have  to  congratulate  themselves. 

Two  honourable  courses  were  open  to  Elizabeth, 
either  of  which  would  have  satisfied  the  French  Gov- 
ernment, and  would  have  been  equally  advantageous 
to  the  cause  which  she  ought  to  have  had  at  heart.  If 
she  could  not  bring  herself  to  accept  Alencon,  she 
might  have  declined  without  offence  on  the  ground  of 
inequality  of  age,  but  at  the  same  time  she  should  have 
given  Charles  a  security  for  her  political  constancy  by 
declaring  war  against  Spain.  He  feared,  and  feared 
with  justice,  that  she  was  trying  only  to  excite  confu- 
sion on  the  Continent ;  and  that  when  France  had 
once  committed  itself,  she  would  fall  back  on  the  hered- 
itary English  policy,  and  either  stand  neutral  in  the 
quarrel,  or  perhaps,  if  France  was  likely  to  be  too 
successful,  even  join  with  Philip. ^ 

Of  the  willingness  of  the  English  people  to  assist 
the  Netherlanders  there  could  be  no  doubt.  Captain 
Morgan,  one  of  the  privateer  captains,  went  over  with 
500  volunteers  on  the  instant  of  the  news  of  the  re- 
volt.    A  few  weeks  after.  Sir    Humfrey  Gilbert    fol- 

1  "  Angli  quibus  hte  turba;  in  his  locis  excitatse  sunt  non  hoc  consilium 
nee  scopum  sibi  proposuerunt  ut  Belgicam  ditionem  ad  Gallos  aliquando 
transferant;  id  eniin  sibi  valde  incoiiiinoilum  et  suae  politiaj  contriirium 
fore  vide/it;  sed  ut  his  artibus  UegL'iu  rhilij)pum  Helgicis  tuniultibu.s  liic 
implicent,  utque  is  cogatur  opes  foi)iasque  suas  in  suis  rebus  recuperandis 
ac  tuendis  consumere,  quod  Galli  his  proximis  duobus  circiter  annis,  illorum 
pessimis  artibus  etiam  vehenieiitcr  ad  hoc  inipui.si,  faceru  coacti  sunt."— 
to  Sir  I'".  Englefield,  June,  1572:  MS.  Simancas. 


380  IRstory  of  England.  [Ch.  xxii. 

lowed  with  a  second  detacliment,  having  gone  with 
the  sanction  of  Cecil  certainly,  and  almost  with  the 
sanction  of  the  Queen  —  almost,  but  not  entirely. 
The  French  Kino-  flattered  himself  that  war  m\ist  fol- 
low  ;  but  it  had  not  come,  and  so  long  as  doubt  re- 
mained he  continued  to  press  the  other  point. 

Alen^on  was  under  twenty,  stinted  in    size,  pitted 
with  the  small-pox,  and  in  all  ways  not  beautiful.     His 
person,  however,  was  never  supposed  to  be  his  rec- 
ommendation.    The  Queen  said  reasonably, 
July.  .  .      .  ,  . 

that  in  a   matter  of  public  importance    this 

objection  was  of  no  consequence.  She  could  not  re- 
solve at  once,  but  she  promised  to  give  an  answer  in  a 
month. ^ 

As  usual,  the  days  passed  on  and  brought  no  decision 
Avith  them.  All  the  Council,  unless  Leicester  was  a 
secret  exception,  wished  her  to  consent ;  so  much  she 
knew,  but  the  effect  was  only  to  make  refusal  difficult. 
One  day  "  she  would  not  marry  a  boy  with  a  pock- 
spoilt  face."  The  next,  "  she  was  moved  by  the  im- 
portunities of  those  who  worked  upon  her  mind."  On 
the  23d  of  July,  she  told  La  Mothe  Fenelon  posi- 
tively that  it  could  not  be  ;  on  the  25th  she  bade  Wal- 
singham  ask  Alen^on  to  come  and  see  her,  that  "  she 
might  try  if  she  could  like  him."  "  Surely,"  wrote 
Burghley,  on  the  27th,  "  her  Majesty  finds  the  mar- 
riage to  be  necessary  for  her,  and  yet  the  opinion  of 
others,  misliking  the  party  for  his  person,  doth  more 
hinder  her  purpose  than  her  own  conceit.  I  see  such 
extremities  on  both  sides  as  I  can  make  no  choice. 
Without  marriage  all  evils  must  be  looked  for  ;  by 
marriage    without    liking,    no    good    can    be    hoped. 

1  La  Mothe  Fenelon,  July  1,  July  3,  July  5 :  Depeches. 


1572.]  The  Reign  of  Elizabeth.  381 

Therefore  to  God  I  leave  it.  The  Queen  is  very- 
irresolute."  1 

Events  in  those  fierce  times  would  not  wait  for  the 
irresolution  of  queens.  Alva  had  commenced  the 
siege  of  Mons.  The  Prince  of  Orange  was  on  the 
Rliine,  with  25,000  Germans  preparing  to  advance  to 
its  relief.  An  army  of  Huguenots  was  assembling  in 
France,  whicli  the  Admiral,  after  the  marriage,  in- 
tended to  lead  in  person  to  Brussels.  Genlis,  conceiv- 
ing that  Mons  was  in  danger,  pressed  forward  first  with 
a  few  thousand  men.  Count  Louis  warned  him  to  be 
careful  how  he  approached  the  city,  and  advised  him  to 
join  his  brother  ;  but  Genlis  was  confident ;  wishing  to 
have  the  credit  of  raising  the  siege,  he  pushed  heedlessly 
and  hastily  on  ;  and  Chapin  Vitelli  and  Don  Freder- 
ick of  Toledo  fell  upon  him  and  dashed  him  to  pieces. 
Genlis  himself  was  made  prisoner,  and  afterwards 
strangled  in  prison.  Twelve  hundred  of  his  followers 
were  left  dead  on  the  field,  the  rest  scattered  every- 
where, and  were  either  murdered  by  the  country  peo- 
ple, or  taken  and  shot  by  the  Spaniards. 

In  itself,  this  disaster  was  of  little  consequence. 
The  Prince's  army  was  untouched,  and  the  Admiral 
would  soon  be  in  the  field.  But  it  was  ill  timed,  it 
added  to  Charles's  difficulties,  and  shook  the  fortitude 
of  tlie  Queen  Mother.  The  fierce  blood  of  the  Paris 
Catholics  was  simmering.  "  Such  of  the  religion," 
Walsingliam  wrote  on  the  2r)th  of  Jvily,  to  Burghley, 
"  such  of  the  religion  as  before  slept  in  security,  awake 
to  see  their  danger,  and  to  conclude  that,  unless  their 
enterprise  in  the  Low  Countries  have  good  success, 
their  cause  grows  desperate.  They  have  of  late  sent 
to  the  King,  who  is  absent  from  home,  to  show  him, 
1  Burghley  to  Walsingliam,  July  27 :  Digges. 


382  History  of  England.  [Cn.  xxir. 

that  if  the  Prince  of  Orange  quail,  it  shall  not  lie  in 
him  to  maintain  them  in  his  protection  by  virtue  of  his 
edict.  They  desire  him,  therefore,  to  resolve  upon 
something,  offering  to  employ  therein  their  hves,  lands, 
and  goods.  Considering  the  earnest  help  which  the 
Pope  is  giving  to  the  other  side,  they  see,  that  unless 
her  Majesty  and  the  Princes  of  Germany  in  like  sort 
join  with  this  Crown,  there  is  no  doubt  what  shall  be 
the  event.  As  you  tender  God's  glory  and  her  Maj- 
esty's safety,  see  if  you  can  induce  her,  upon  overtures 
first  to  he  made  by  the  King  in  their  behalf,  to  join  with 
him  in  yielding  assistance.  If  God  had  not  raised  up 
the  Prince  of  Orange  to  have  entertained  Spain,  the 
fii'e  would  have  kindled  before  this  in  our  own  home. 
To  assist  the  Prince  is  to  assist  ourselves.  For  God's 
sake  let  us  declare  ourselves  openly.  The  Catholic 
Powers  show  their  courage  and  zeal.  Enoland  will 
only  act  underhand,  without  heart  or  spirit.  No  en- 
terprise accompanied  by  fear  can  succeed  ;  for  there  is 
no  greater  enemy  to  good  counsel  than  fear.  If  the 
Prince  fail,  the  edicts  cannot  be  maintained."  ^ 

Her  own  interests,  her  obligations  to  Orange,  her 
duty  to  the  cause  of  which  she  was  made  by  her  posi- 
tion the  principal  representative,  alike  urged  Elizabeth 
into  one  bold  honourable  course  :  what  motive  could 
have  prompted  her  to  the  step  which  has  now  to  be 
described,  it  would  be  unsafe  and  unjust,  in  the  ab- 
sence of  proof,  to  conjecture.  At  every  difficult  stage 
in  her  career  there  was  always  in  her  conduct  some- 
thing strange,  something  unexpected,  and  on  the  sur- 
face reprehensible.  It  seemed  forever  as  if  she 
doubted  the  success  or  disliked  the  character  of  Burgh- 
ley's  general  policy,  and  as  if  she  desired  to  secure  for 

1  Walsingham  to  Burghley  and  Leicester,  July  26 :  Digges. 


1572.]  The  Reign  of  Elizabeth.  383 

herself,  in  case  of  difficulty,  a  retreat  into  another  and 
an  opposite  course.  It  is  possible  now  that  she  was 
worried  out  of  her  senses  by  her  troubles  with  Alen- 
gon  ;  it  is  possible  that  she  was  disheartened  by  the 
defeat  of  Genlis  ;  it  is  possible  that  she  was  trying 
some  cunning  stroke  of  diplomatic  treachery  :  or  again 
—  but  conjectures  are  useless.  It  is  enough  to  say 
that  if  she  was  sincere,  she  was  without  excuse  ;  if  she 
was  insincere,  never  was  a  trick  more  stupidly  played, 
or  a  moment  more  unfortunate  selected  to  play  it. 

On  learning  that  the  French  were  in  Mons,  the 
Duke  of  Alva  had  made  fresh  overtures  for  a  reconcil- 
iation with  England.  De  Guaras,  in  a  private  audi- 
ence, gave  the  Queen  a  letter  from  him,  and  De  Gua- 
ras may  himself  relate  what  followed  : 

"  She  told  me,"  he  wrote,  "  that  emissaries  were 
coming  eveiy  day  from  Flushing  to  her,  proposing  to 
place  the  town  in  her  hands.  If  it  w^as  for  the  ser- 
vice of  his  Majesty,  and  if  his  Majesty  approved,  she 
said  that  she  would  accept  their  offer.  With  the  Eng- 
lish who  were  already  there,  and  with  others  whom 
she  would  send  over  for  the  purpose,  it  would  be  easy 
for  her  to  take  entire  possession  of  the  place,  and  she 
would  then  make  it  over  to  the  Duke  of  Alva  or  to 
anyone  whom  the  Duke  would  appoint  to  receive  it."  ^ 

On  such  a  subject,  and  at  such  a  moment,  it  is  not 
credible  that  the  Spanish  emissary  would  have  misrep- 

1  "  La  Reyna  de  Inglaterra  le  habia  dicho,  dandole  el  iiiias  cartas  del 
Duque  de  Alva,  que  los  de  Frexelingas  le  venian  cada  dia  a  oft'rescer  de 
entregarle  aquclla  villa.  Si  convciiia  al  servicio  y  contentaniicnto  de  su 
Mag''  que  estuviese  en  su  poder,  clla  lo  acceptaria,  y  se  apuderaria  dt'iio  con 
los  Ingleses  que  en  ella  habia,  y  con  loa  que  a  este  eflecto  enviaria,  para 
entregarle  luego  al  I)uque  de  Alva  6  a  quien  el  ordenase."  —  I'uiitos  de 
Cartas  de  Autou  de  Guaras  al  Duque  de  Alva,  Juue  30:  MS.  Simancas. 


384  Eistory  of  England.  [Ch.  xxil. 

resented  the  language  of  the  English  Queen.  It  is 
barely  possible,  though  that  too  is  most  unlikely,  that 
he  could  have  allowed  himself  to  misunderstand  her 
words.  The  reader  will  determine  the  interpretation 
which  he  will  place  upon  them.  There  were  those 
about  Elizabeth  who,  at  a  later  period,  deliberately 
recommended  her  to  do  what  De  Guaras  says  that  she 
herself  proposed  to  do.  She  then  refused  to  listen  to 
them,  and  received  the  thanks  of  the  Prince  of  Or- 
ange for  refusing.  The  substantial  uprightness  of  her 
conduct  in  the  long  run  forbids  the  belief  that  she 
would  have  carried  out  such  an  act  of  baseness,  even 
thouo-h  she  had  reallv  in  one  of  hei*  vary  in  o-  humours 
contemplated  the  possibility  of  it.  Had  she  been  her- 
self so  far  lost  to  honourable  feeling,  she  would  have 
been  saved  by  Burghley  from  her  own  weakness.  But 
whatever  opinions  may  be  formed  of  her  intentions,  the 
effect  was  equally  frightful.  She  gave  Alva  the  ad- 
Vantage  for  which  he  was  longing  ;  it  enabled  him  at 
once  to  irritate  the  worst  suspicions  of  the  Queen 
Mother,  and  distract  and  frighten  the  perplexed  and 
harassed  Charles.  Companies  of  Huguenots  were 
pouring  into  Flushing  and  Walcheren :  the  rumour  of 
intended  treachery  roused  the  national  jealousy  into 
active  and  violent  distrust,  and  plans  were  formed  for 
driving  the  English  out  before  they  had  betrayed  the 
liberties  which  they  had  sworn  to  defend.  Sir  Hum- 
frey  Gilbert,  little  knowing  the  service  which  Elizabeth 
had  rendered  him,  was  at  a  loss  to  comprehend  the 
hostility  with  which  he  found  himself  regarded.  Con- 
scious of  his  own  integrity,  he  suspected  the  French 
of  foul  play,  and,  encouraging  unfortunately  the  very 
fears  which  were  beginning  to  be  entertained,  he  pro- 
posed to  turn  them  out  of  Flushing,  and  take  possession 
of  the  town. 


1572.]  The  Rdgn  of  Elizabeth.  385 

"  They  practise  here,"  he  wrote  to  Burghlej,  "  to 
use  our  soldiers  very  evil,  and  to  banish  those 

/.     1  1  p  •         1  1       August. 

or  the  townsmen  that  are  our  friends ;  and 
do  in  effect  starve  the  English  soldiers  by  practice, 
only  to  cause  mutinies  to  have  the  soldiers  to  run  away, 
to  have  the  French  practice  the  better  brought  to  pass  ; 
so  that  I  and  those  few  English  that  be  in  this  town 
are  sure  to  be  murdered  if  I  continue  here.  There- 
fore m}^  most  humble  suit  is,  that  I  may  know  without 
delay  what  her  Majesty  will  have  done  touching  this 
island  and  town.  If  her  Majesty,  or  your  Honour, 
will  have  me  do  it,  I  will  procure  a  mutiny,  if  I  can, 
between  the  townsmen  and  the  French,  and  will  take 
the  townsmen's  part,  and  will  die  for  it  and  all  my 
people,  except  we  cut  all  the  Frenchmen  in  pieces  and 
the  Governor  also.  I  know  there  is  the  like  plot  laid 
for  us."  1 

This  was  bad  enough,  but  it  was  nothing  to  the 
effect  produced  on  the  Queen  Mother  and  the  King  of 
France.  There  is  no  positive  proof  that  Alva  com- 
municated Elizabeth's  offers  to  them,  but  he  was  more 
foolish  than  he  gave  the  world  reason  to  believe  him 
to  be  if  he  let  such  a  weapon  lie  idle  in  his  writing- 
desk.  It  is  certain,  at  any  rate,  that  at  the  beginning 
of  August  rumours  of  some  coldness  on  the  part  of 
England^  were  in  circulation  at  the  French  Court. 
On  the  defeat  of  Genlis  the  Catholic  leaders  presented 
a  remonstrance  to  the  King  against  sendino;  further  as- 
sistance  to  the  Low  Countries.  Charles  himself  con- 
tinued firm.  "  But  for  the  King,"  said  Walsingham, 
"  all  had  quailed  long  before."     He  had  meant  to  send 

1  Sir  H.  Oilbert  to  Burfjhley,  August  13 :  MSS.  Flanders. 

2  The  form  which  the  report  assumed  was  that  the  Queen  intended  to 
recall  Gilbert  and  leave  the  insurgents  to  themselves. 

VOL.  X.  2.1> 


386  History  of  England.  LCh.  xxu. 

the  Admiral  forward  without  waiting  for  the  marriage, 
but  some  news  or  other  "  had  terrified  the  Queen 
Mother."  She  had  represented  to  him  "  that  without 
the  Queen  of  England's  assistance  he  would  not  be 
able  to  bear  the  brunt  of  so  puissant  an  enemy ;  " 
"  without  England  the  expedition  would  miscarry ;  " 
and  she  had  entreated  "  with  tears  "  that  he  would  at 
least  wait  till  Elizabeth  had  declared  herself.  Her 
misgivings  were  confirmed  by  a  representation  through 
Walsingham  that  Alencon  would  not  be  accepted. 
She  felt  more  than  ever  that  the  marria2;e  and  the 
marriage  only  could  give  her  the  security  which  she 
required.  She  would  not  accept  the  refusal.  She  told 
Walsingham  "  that  the  marriage  was  now  the  only 
means  of  establishing  a  perfect  amity  between  the 
Crowns."  She  sent  M.  de  la  Mole,  Alencon's  dear- 
est friend,  to  England,  to  make  one  more  effort.  She 
said  she  trusted  "  God  would  so  dispose  the  Queen  of 
England's  heart  as  she  should  prefer  public  before  pri- 
vate affairs."  The  King  himself  wrote  to  La  Mothe, 
telling  him  that  he  must  do  his  very  best,  and  even  if 
he  failed  or  was  likely  to  fail,  that  he  must  prevent  the 
negotiation  from  being  finally  broken  off;  while  Wal- 
singham could  but  add  his  own  prayers  that  either  she 
w^ould  take  Alencon,  or,  if  not,  that  she  would  join 
openly  with  France  in  assisting  the  Prince  of  Orange. 
He  implored  Burghley  and  he  implored  Leicester  not 
*'  to  allow  her  to  be  deceived  by  the  fair  words  of 
Spain,"  for  Spain  would  change  its  language  when  its 
difficulties  were  over,  and  "  fearful  effects  would  fol- 
low unless  God  put  to  His  helping  hand."  ^ 

1  The  King  to  M.  de  la  Mothe  Fenelon,  July  20,  August  9;  The  Queen 
Mother  to  M.  de  la  Mothe  Fenelon,  August  10:  Depeches,  Vol.  VII.  De 
la  Mothe  Fenelon  to  the  King,  July  29,  August  3,  August  7;  Walsingham 
to  Sir  T.  Smith,  August  10;  Walsingham  to  Burghley,  August  10;  Wal- 
singham to  Leicester,  August  10 :  Digges. 


1572.]  The  Reign  of  Elizabeth.  387 

The  fearful  effects  were  nearer  than  Walsin^ham 
beheved.  EHzabeth  at  first  encouraged  De  la  Mole  to 
hope,  and  both  he  and  La  Mothe  wrote  to  Paris  in 
good  spirits.  A  little  after,  she  sent  Walsingham  a 
letter  of  the  old  sort,  that  she  would  and  that  she 
would  not :  that  perhaps  she  would :  that  she  must  see 
Alen^'on,  and  that  she  could  then  make  up  her  mind. 
Sir  Thomas  Smith,  by  the  same  post,  begged  that  Alen- 
^on  would  come  over,  "  else  nothing  was  to  be  looked 
for  but  continual  dalliance  and  doubtfulness  ;  "  and 
Burghley  added  to  the  packet  a  letter  to  Coligny  which 
was  never  to  reach  his  hand. 

"  What  God  shall  please  to  do  in  the  cause  I  know 
not,"  he  said,  "  but  I  see  the  marriage  of  my  lady  and 
Queen  is  of  more  moment  to  the  weal,  both  particu- 
larly of  this  realm  and  publicly  of  Christendom  for  the 
benefit  of  religion,  than  I  fear  our  sins  will  suffer  us  to 
receive.  But  as  hitherto  our  good  God  hath  mightily 
preserved  this  our  estate,  so  I  trust  the  same  will  not 
leave  His  marvellous  work,  but  will  bring  it  to  some 
further  perfection.  Herein  I  trust  that  you  will  em- 
ploy your  help  there,  and  I  for  my  poor  part  will  do 
my  best  here."  ^ 

The  date  of  this  letter  was  the  22d  of  August. 
While  Cecil  was  writing  it,  the  Admiral  was  lying 
wounded  in  his  bed.  Before  the  couriers  reached 
Paris  he  was  dead,  and  the  gutters  in  the  streets  were 
running  with  Huguenot  blood.  Elizabeth  had  trifled 
too  long.  The  bars  of  hell's  gates  were  broken,  and 
the  devils  were  loose.  It  is  not  pretended  that  she 
oue-ht  to  have  sacrificed  herself.  She  miirht  have  de- 
clined,  had  she  pleased  it,  both  the  mai'riago  with 
Alen^on  and  all  interference  for  good  or  evil  with  the 
1  liurghley  to  Coligny,  August  22 :  MSS.  France. 


388  History  of  England.  [Ch.  xxii. 

affairs  of  the  Continent.  But  "  to  practise  "  as  she 
had  done  deliberately  for  so  many  years  with  the  sub- 
jects of  other  princes ;  to  encourage  insurrection  for 
her  own  purposes,  and  then  to  leave  the  fire  to  burn  ; 
to  hold  out  hopes  and  disappoint  them  ;  "to  build,"  as 
Walsingham  expressed  it,  "  with  one  hand  and  over- 
throw with  the  other ;  "  all  this  might  be  sport  to  hei', 
but  it  was  death  to  those  with  whom  she  toyed  so 
cruelly. 

A  few  more  sentences  will  bring  down  the  fortunes 
of  the  other  actors  in  the  story  to  the  eve  of  St.  Bar- 
tholomew. 

The  Queen  of  Scots,  being  satisfied  that  Elizabeth 
would  not  be  persuaded  into  extremities  against  her, 
remained  at  Sheffield,  contemptuous  and  defiant.  The 
execution  of  Norfolk  appeared  to  affect  her,  and  she 
had  an  attack  of  illness  which  Shrewsbury  half  doubt- 
ingly  attributed  to  grief ;  ^  but  two  days  later  the  Earl 
relieved  the  Court  of  their  anxieties  about  her  :  she 
had  merely  overdosed  herself  with  some  convenient 
medicine.^ 

A  Commission  went  down  to  examine  her  on  her 
transactions  with  Ridolfi,  Elizabeth  at  the  same  time 
informing  her  of  the  measures  which  had  been  pro- 
posed against  her  in  Parliament,  and  adding  that, 
while  she  had  "  no  intention  of  revenge,"  and  would 
persevere  in  dealing  mildly  and  gently  with  her,  other 
princes  would  probably  have  been  less  forbearing.^ 

Thus  encouraged,  the  Queen  of  Scots  received  the 
Commissioners  with  mere  disdain.     "  She  continues  in 


1  "  If  she  be  so  sick  as  in  appearance  she  seemeth  and  her  people  make 
report  of."  — Shrewsbury  to  Borghley,  June  10:  MSS.  Queen  of  Seats. 

2  Same  to  the  same,  June  12. 

3  Elizabeth  to  the  Queen  of  Scots,  June  11 :  MSS.  Queen  of  Scots, 


1572.]  The  Reign  of  Elizabeth.  389 

great  enmity,"  Shrewsbury  said,  "and  gives  no  hope 
of  other  intent.  It  is  too  plain  that  her  heart  is  over- 
hardened  with  deadly  hate  against  the  Queen's  Maj- 
esty ;  the  more,  therefore,  her  Majesty's  safety  is  to  be 
thought  upon." 

In  Scotland,  after  desperate  fighting,  in  which  quar- 
ter on  neither  side  was  given  nor  asked,  an 

.      .         o  1  1  June. 

armistice  for  two  months  was  agreed  upon  at 
the  beginning  of  August,    and  the   citizens  of   Edin- 
burgh returned  to  the  shells  of  their  houses. 

It  remains  to  mention  only  the  fate  of  the  unlucky 
Earl  of  Northumberland.  For  manv  weeks  after  he 
was  given  up  he  was  left  at  Berwick.  After  so 
long  confinement  in  Lochleven,  the  change,  with  all 
its  danger,  was  a  relief  to  him.  He  was  sometimes 
"  abashed  and  sorrowful,"  but  he  rallied  often,  "  talked 
of  hawks  and  hounds,  and  other  such  vain  matters," 
craving  most,  it  seemed,  for  the  green  woods  of  Aln- 
wick and  the  note  of  the  huntsman's  bugle.  Hunsdon 
was  uneasv  at  havino;  the  charge  of  him,  for  in  Ber- 
wick  there  was  no  convenience  for  the  safe  keeping  of 
State  prisoners.  But  he  made  no  attempt  to  escape : 
he  talked  freely  of  the  rebellion,  telling  all  that  he 
knew  ;  excusing  Westmoreland  and  taking  the  blame 
upon  himself;  and  Hunsdon,  touched  with  his  "  sim- 
plicity," endeavoured  to  move  Elizabeth  in  his  favour. 
She  paid  no  attention  to  his  intercession.  The  Earl 
had  been  attainted,  and  his  trial  was  therefore  no 
longer  necessary.  The  second  week  in  July  an  inti- 
mation came  down  that  a  warrant  was  to  be  issued  for 
his  execution,  that  he  was  to  suffer  at  York,  and  that 
Hunsdon  must  conduct  him  thither. 

Lord  Hunsdon,  irritated  at  his  failure,  replied  that 
it  was  not  his  business  to  carry  noblemen  to  execution. 


390  History  of  Erigland.  [Ch.  xxh. 

and  briefly,  he  would  not  do  it ;  "  he  would  suffer 
some  imprisonment  rather ;  "  if  it  was  to  be 
done  at  all,  Sir  John  Foster,  the  Warden  of 
the  Middle  Marches,  was  the  proper  person  ;  and  if 
the  writ  came  directed  to  himself,  he  would  not  act 
upon  it.^ 

There  was  a  slight  pause,  of  which  he  took  advan- 
tage to  intercede  again.  The  Earl's  death,  he  said, 
would  be  of  no  advantage  either  to  the  Queen  or  to 
the  State.  Sir  Henry  Percy,  who  would  succeed  to 
the  title,  had  been  implicated  with  Ridolfi,  and  was 
as  guilty  as  his  brother.  "  Her  Majesty  had  and  did 
show  mercy  to  a  number  that  had  as  well  deserved  to 
die  as  he,"  ^  and  "she  would  do  herself  a  worse  turn 
by  setting  up  Sir  Henry  than  by  keeping  the  Earl 
alive."  ^  Elizabeth  found  afterwards  that  Hunsdon 
was  right,  but  for  the  present  Sir  Henry  Percy  had 
made  his  peace,  and  the  order  for  the  execution  was 
sent  down.  She  did  not  care  to  provoke  resistance  by 
insisting  that  her  cousin  should  see  it  obeyed.  Sir 
John  Foster  carried  the  Earl  by  slow  stages  along  the 
line  of  the  rebellion  to  Raby  and  Durham,  to  his  own 
house  at  Topcliff,  and  to  York  ;  and  there,  on  the  22d 
of  August,  very  simply,  nobly,  and  quietly,  he  left  the 
world  by  the  hard  road  which  his  father  had  trodden 
before  him. 

1  Hunsdon  to  Cecil,  July  11:  MSS.  Border. 

2  Hunsdon  to  Burghley,  July  14:  MS.  Ibid. 
8  Same  to  the  same,  August  9 :  MS.  Ibid. 


1572.1  The  Reign  of  Elizabeth.  391 


CHAPTER  XXIII. 

The  Founder  of  Christianity,  when  He  sent  the 
Apostles  into  the  world  to  preach  the  Gospel,  gave 
them  a  singular  warning.  They  were  to  be  the  bear- 
ers of  good  news  to  mankind,  and  yet  He  said  He  was 
not  come  to  send  peace  on  earth,  but  a  sword  —  He 
was  come  to  set  house  against  house  and  kindred 
against  kindred :  the  son  would  deliver  up  his  father 
to  death  ;  the  brother,  his  sister ;  the  mother,  the  child  ; 
the  strongest  ties  of  natural  affection  would  wither  in 
the  fire  of  hate  which  His  words  were  about  to  kindle. 
The  prophecy,  which  referred  in  the  first  instance  to 
the  struo-ole  between  the  new  religion  and  Judaic  big- 
otr}^  has  fulfilkd  itself  continuously  in  the  history  of 
the  Church.  Whenever  the  doctrinal  aspect  of  Chris- 
tianity has  been  prominent  above  the  practical,  when- 
ever the  first  duty  of  the  believer  has  been  held  to 
consist  in  holding  particular  opinions  on  the  functions 
and  nature  of  his  Master,  and  only  the  second  in  obey- 
ing his  Master's  commands,  then  always,  with  a  uni- 
f(jrmity  more  remarkable  than  is  obtained  in  any  other 
historical  phenomena,  there  have  followed  dissension, 
animosity,  and  in  the  later  ages  bloodshed. 

Christianity,  as  a  principle  of  life,  has  been  the  most 
powerful  check  upon  the  passions  of  mankind.  Chris- 
tianity as  a  speculative  system  of  opinion  has  converted 
them  into  monsters  of  f;ruelty.  Higher  than  the 
angels,  lower  than  the  demons,  these  are  the  two  as- 


392  History  of  England.  [Ch.  xxiii. 

pects  in  which  the  rehgious  man  presents  himself  in  all 
times  and  countries. 

The    first   burst  of  the  Reformation  had  taken  the 
Catholic   Powers  by  surprise.     It   had  spread  like  an 
epidemic    from    town    to    town,  and  nation  to  nation. 
No  conscientious  man  could  pretend  that  the  Church 
was  what  it  ought  to  be.     Indiscriminate  resistance  to 
all  change  was  no  longer  possible  ;  and  with  no  clear 
perception  where  to  stand  or  where  to  yield,  half  the 
educated  world  had  been   swept  away  by  the  stream. 
But  the  first  force  had  spent  itself.     The  Reformers 
had  quarrelled  among  themselves;    the  Catholics  had 
recovered  heart  from  their  divisions  ;    the  Council  of 
Trent  had  given    them    ground    to  stand    upon  ;    and 
with  clear  conviction,  and  a  unity  of  creed  and  pur- 
pose, they  had  set  themselves  steadily,  with  voice  and 
pen    and    sword,  to  recover  their  lost  ground.       The 
enthusiasm  overcame    for  a  time  the    distinctions    of 
nations  and  languages.     The  Englishman,  the  French- 
man,  the   Spaniard,  the  Italian,  the  German,  remem- 
bered only  that  he  was   a  son  of  the  Church,  that  he 
had  one  master  the  Pope,  and  one  enemy  the  heretic 
and  the  schismatic.     In  secular  convulsions  the  natural 
distress  at  the  sight  of  human  suffering  is  seldom  en- 
tirely extinguished.     In  the  great  spiritual  struggle  of 
the  sixteenth  century,  religion  made  humanity  a  crime, 
and  the  most  horrible  atrocities  were  sanctified  by  the 
belief  that   they  were    approved    and    commanded  by 
Heaven.     The  fathers  of  the    Church    at    Trent  had 
enjoined  the  extirpation  of  heresy,  and  the  evil  army 
of  priests  thundered  the  accursed  message  from  every 
pulpit  which  they  were  allowed  to  enter,  or  breathed 
it  with   yet    more    fatal    potency  in  the    confessional. 
Nor  were  the  other  side  slow  in  learning  the  lesson  of 


1572.]  The  Reign  of  Elizaheth.  393 

hatred.  The  Lutheran  and  the  AngHcan,  hoverinsf  be- 
tween  tlie  two  extremes,  might  attempt  forbearance, 
but  as  the  persecuting  spirit  grew  among  the  CathoHcs 
European  Protestantism  assumed  a  stronger  and  a 
sterner  type.  The  Cathohc,  on  the  authority  of  the 
Church,  made  war  upon  spiritual  rebelHon.  Tlie  Prot- 
estant beheved  himself  commissioned  Hke  the  Israehtes 
to  extinguish  the  worshippers  of  images,  "  No  mercy 
to  the  heretics  "  was  the  watchword  of  the  Inquisition  ; 
"  the  idolaters  shall  die  "  was  the  answering  thunder 
of  the  disciples  of  Calvin  ;  and  as  the  death-wrestle 
spread  from  land  to  land,  each  party  strove  to  outbid 
the  other  for  Heaven's  favour  by  the  ruthlessness  with 
wdiich  they  carried  out  its  imagined  behests.  Kings 
and  statesmen  in  some  degree  retained  the  balance 
of  their  reason.  Coligny,  Orange,  Philip,  even  Alva 
himself,  endeavoured  at  times  to  check  the  frenzy  of 
their  followers  ;  but  the  multitude  was  held  back  by 
no  responsibilities ;  their  creeds  were  untempered  by 
other  knowledge,  and  they  could  indulge  the  brutality 
of  their  natural  appetites  without  dread  of  the  Divine 
displeasure  ;  while  alike  in  priest's  stole  or  Geneva 
gown,  the  clergy,  like  a  legion  of  furies,  lashed  them 
into  wilder  madness. 

On  land  the  chief  sufferers  had  been  the  Protes- 
tants :  on  the  sea  they  had  the  advantage, 
and  had  used  it.  The  privateers  had  for  the  """"^ ' 
most  part  disposed  swiftly  of  the  crews  and  passengers 
of  their  prizes.  Prisoners  were  inconvenient  and  dan- 
gerous ;  the  sea  told  no  tales,  and  the  dead  did  not 
come  back.  With  the  cajjture  of  Brille  and  Flushing 
the  black  flag  had  been  transferred  to  the  shore.  Sir 
Humfrey  Gilbert,  following  the  practice  which  he  had 
learnt   in    Ireland,  hung  the    Spaniards  as  fixst  as  he 


394  Eistory  of  England.  [Ch.  xxiii. 

caught  them.^  The  Hollanders  had  shown  no  mercy 
to  the  priests  ;  they  had  been  the  instruments  of  Alva's 
Blood  Council,  and  the  measure  which  they  had  dealt 
was  dealt  in  return  to  them.  The  Prince  of  Orange 
crossed  the  Rhine  in  July,  coming  forward  towards 
Mons.  He  took  Ruremonde  by  assault,  and  the  monks 
in  the  abbeys  and  priories  there  were  instantly  mur- 
dered. Mechlin  opened  its  gates  to  him,  and  after 
Mechlin  some  other  neighbourino;  towns  followed  the 
example  ;  in  all  of  them  the  Prince  could  not  prevent 
his  cause  fi'om  being  dishonoured  by  the  same  atroc- 
ities.2 

While  these  scenes  were  in  progress  the  Admiral 
and  Count  Louis  were  preparing  for  the  great  cam- 
paign which  was  to  end  in  the  expulsion  of  the  Span- 
iards, the  death  or  capture  of  Alva,  and  the  liberation 
of  the  Low  Countries.  For  the  French  Government 
to  go  to  war  with  Spain  as  the  ally  of  the  Prince  of 
Orange,  would  be  equivalent  to  an  open  declaration  in 
favour  of  their  own  Huguenots  ;  and  with  examples 
of  the  treatment  of  their  brethren  before  them,  the 
French  priests  and  monks  had  reason  to  be  alarmed  at 
the  prospect  of  Calvinist  ascendancy.  The  Paris 
clergy,  confident  in  the  support  of  the  populace,  had 
denounced  throughout  the  summer  the  liberal  policy 
of  the  King.  One  of  them,  De  Sainte  Foix,  in  the 
very  Court  itself,  had  held  out  the  story  of  Jacob  and 
Esau  to  the  ambition  of  the  Duke  of  Anjou  ;  and  the 
favour  shown  to  Count  Louis,  the  alliance  with  excom- 
municated England,  and  the  approaching  marriage  of 

1  "  The  Spaniards  would  be  glad  to  make  good  war  with  us,  for  that  we 
have  hanged  so  many  of  them,  and  are  liker  to  take  of  them  than  they  of 
us."  —Gilbert  to  Burghley,  September  28:  MSS.  Flanders. 

2  Alva  to  Philip,  July  28  and  August  21.  — Correspondence  of  Philip  II. : 
Gachard. 


1572.]  The  Reign  of  Elizabeth.  895 

the  Princess  Margaret  had  not  tended  to  moderate 
their  vehemence.  The  war  was  pronounced  to  be  im- 
pious ;  the  Catholic  King  Avas  fulfilling  a  sacred  duty 
in  crushing  the  enemies  of  God ;  and  those  who  would 
have  France  interfere  to  save  them  were  denounced  as 
traitors  to  Holy  Church. 

Yet  as  the  weeks  passed  on,  it  seemed  as  if  all  their 
exertions  would  be  wasted.  The  traditions  of  Francis 
I.  were  not  dead.  The  opportunity  for  revenging  St. 
Quentin  and  tearing  in  pieces  the  treaty  of  Cambray 
was  splendidly  alluring.  The  Catholic  leaders,  Guise, 
Nevers,  Tavannes,  even  Anjou  himself,  implored  and 
threatened,  but  Charles  was  carried  away  by  the  temp- 
tation, and  perhaps  by  nobler  motives.  Coligny  said 
that  whoever  was  against  the  war  was  no  true  French- 
man, and  the  Court  appeared  to  agree  with  Coligny. 
The  Princess  Margaret's  marriage,  independent  of  its 
political  bearing,  was  in  itself  a  defiance  of  the  Papacy. 
Pius  V.  had  refused  absolutely  to  allow  or  sanction  it, 
till  the  King  of  Navarre  was  reconciled  to  the  Church. 
Pius  had  died  in  the  May  preceding,  but  his  successor 
Gregory  XIII.  had  maintained  the  objection,  and 
though  less  peremptory,  had  attached  conditions  to  his 
consent  to  which  Charles  showed  no  signs  of  submit- 
ting. 

The  only  uncertainty  rose  from  the  attitude  of  Eng- 
land. Catherine  de  Medici  had  acquiesced  in  the  war, 
with  the  proviso  from  the  first  that  France  and  Eng- 
land should  take  up  the  quarrel  together.  As  the 
Catholic  opposition  increased  in  intensity,  Elizabeth's 
support  became  more  and  more  indispensable.  If  the 
King  risked  the  honour  of  France  alone  in  a  doubtful 
cause,  and  experienced  anything  like  disaster,  whatever 
else   happened  his  own   ruin   was   certain.     As  soon, 


396  History  of  England.  [Ch.  xxiii 

therefore,  as  it  was  discovered  that  Elizabeth  was  not 
only  playing  with  the  Alen^on  marriage,  but  was  treat- 
ing secretly  with  Alva  to  make  her  own  advantage  out 
of  the  crisis,  the  Queen  Mother's  resolution  gave  w^ay 
—  or  rather,  for  resolution  is  not  a  word  to  be  thrown 
away  upon  Catherine  de  Medici  —  she  saw  that  war 
was  too  dangerous  to  be  ventured.  Religion,  in  its 
good  sense  and  in  its  bad  sense,  was  equally  a  word 
without  meaning  to  her.  She  hated  and  she  despised 
Calvinism  ;  it  was  a  new  superstition  as  overbearing  as 
the  old,  and  without  the  sanction  of  traditionary  exist- 
ence ;  it  had  shaken  her  own  power  and  her  son's 
throne,  and  though,  if  it  would  serve  her  purpose,  she 
was  ready  to  make  use  of  it,  she  was  no  less  willing, 
if  it  stood  in  her  way,  to  set  her  foot  upon  its  neck. 
The  impatience  of  the  Huguenots  would  not  endure 
disappointment,  and  their  own  safety  was  as  much  in- 
volved as  that  of  the  Prince  of  Orano;e  in  the  intended 
campaign.  The  idea  of  a  general  massacre  of  the 
Huguenots  had  been  long  familiar  to  the  minds  of  the 
Catholics.  If  the  project  on  Flanders  was  abandoned, 
they  knew  that  they  would  be  unable  to  live  in  the 
districts  of  France  where  they  were  outnumbered, 
and  they  declared  without  reserve  that  they  would 
fall  back  into  the  west,  and  there  maintain  their  own 
liberties.  But  the  reopening  of  the  civil  war  was  a 
terrible  prospect.  Coligny  still  had  a  powerful  hold 
on  the  mind  of  the  King.  The  Queen  Mother  when 
she  attempted  to  oppose  him  found  her  influence  shak- 
ing ;  and  even  she  herself,  as  late  certainly  as  the 
10th  of  August,  was  hesitating  on  the  course  Avhich 
she  should  adopt.  On  that  day  she  was  still  clinging 
to  the  hope  that  Elizabeth  might  still  take  Alen9on  ;  it 
was  only  when  she  found  distinctly  that  it  would  not 
be  that  she  fell  back  upon  her  own  cunning. 


1572.]  The  Reign  of  Elizabeth.  397 

The  French  Court,  as  the  reader  will  remember,  had 
broken  up  in  June,  to  reassemble  in  August  for  the 
marriage  of  the  Princess.  The  Admiral  went  down  to 
Chatillon,  and  while  there  he  received  a  warning  not 
to  trust  himself  again  in  Paris.  But  he  dared  not,  by 
absenting  himself,  impair  his  influence  with  the  King. 
His  intentions  were  thoroughly  loyal.  He  said  that  he 
would  rather  be  torn  by  horses  than  disturb  again  the 
internal  peace  of  France ;  and  he  had  been  many  times 
within  hearing  of  the  bells  of  Notre  Dame  with  fewer 
friends  about  him  than  he  would  find  assembled  in  the 
Capital.  The  retinues  of  the  King  of  Navarre  and 
the  Prince  of  Cond^,  his  own  followers,  the  trains  of 
Rochefoucault,  Montgomery,  and  Montmorency,  the 
noblemen  and  gentlemen  of  Languedoc  and  Poitou  — 
all  these  would  be  there,  and  these  were  the  men  who 
for  ten  years  had  held  at  bay  the  united  strength  of 
Catholic  France,  and  were  now  gathering  in  arms  to 
encounter  Alva.  If  evil  was  intended  towards  them 
some  other  opportunity  would  be  chosen,  and  personal 
danger,  at  least  for  the  present,  he  could  not  anticipate. 

Thus  at  tlie  appointed  time  the  Admiral  returned  to 
the  Court,  and  notwithstanding  Elizabeth's  tricks,  he 
found  the  King  unchanged.  The  Duke  of  Guise  shook 
hands  with  him  in  Charles's  presence,  and  Charles  again 
spoke  to  him  with  warmth  and  confidence  of  the  Flan- 
ders expedition.  On  the  18th  of  August  the  great 
event  came  off  which  the  Catholics  had  tried  in  vain 
to  prevent,  and  which  was  regarded  as  the  symbol  of 
the  intended  policy  of  France.  The  dispensation  from 
Rome  was  still  withheld,  but  the  Cardinal  of  Bourbon 
ventured  in  the  face  of  its  absence  to  officiate  at  the 
ceremony  in  the  cathedral.  The  sister  of  the  King 
became  the  bride  of  a  professed  heretic,  and  when  the 


"98  History  of  England.  [Ch.  xxill. 

Princess  afterwards  attended  mass,  her  husband  osten- 
tatiously withdrew,  and  remained  in  the  cloister.  A 
few  more  days  and  Coligny  would  be  on  his  way  to 
the  army.  Though  England  had  failed  him,  and  might 
perhaps  be  hostile,  the  King  still  meant  to  persevere. 
The  Queen  Mother  had  tried  all  her  arts  —  tears, 
threats,  entreaties  —  and  at  times  not  without  effect. 
Charles's  instincts  were  generous,  but  his  purpose  was 
flexible,  and  his  character  was  half  formed.  His 
mother  had  ruled  him  from  the  time  that  he  had  left 
his  cradle,  and  he  had  no  high  convictions,  no  tenacity 
of  principle  or  vigour  of  will,  to  contend  against  her. 
But  there  was  a  certain  element  of  chivalry  about  him 
which  enabled  him  to  recognise  in  Coligny  the  noblest 
of  his  subjects,  and  he  had  a  soldier's  ambition  to  em- 
ulate his  father  and  grandfather.  The  Duke  of  An- 
jou,  who  related  afterwards  the  secret  history  of  these 
momentous  days,  said  that  whenever  the  King  had 
been  alone  with  the  Admiral,  the  Queen  Mother  found 
him  afterwards  cold  and  reserved  towards  herself. 
Anjou  himself  went  one  day^  into  his  brother's  cab- 
inet ;  the  King  did  not  speak  to  him,  but  walked  up 
and  down  the  room  fingering  his  dagger,  and  looking 
as  if  he  could  have  stabbed  him.  If  the  war  was  to 
be  prevented,  something  must  be  done,  and  that 
promptly.  Guise,  notwithstanding  his  seeming  cordi- 
ality with  Coligny,  was  supposed  to  be  meditating  mis- 
chief, and  the  King,  by  Coligny's  advice,  kept  the 
Royal  Guard  under  arms  in  the  streets.  Catherine, 
who  hated  both  their  houses,  calculated  that  by  judi- 
cious irritation  she  might  set  the  Duke  and  the  Admiral 
at  each  other's  throats,  and  rid  herself  at  once  of  both 
of  the  too  dangerously  powerful  subjects.     The  Ad- 

1  The  19th  or  20th  of  August. 


1572.]  The  Reign  of  Elizahetli.  399 

miral's  o-wn  declaration  had  failed  to  persuade  the 
Guises  that  he  was  innocent  of  the  murder  of  the 
Duke's  father — Poltrot  was  still  generally  believed  to 
have  been  privately  instigated  by  him  —  and  Catherine 
intimated  to  the  Duchesse  de  Nemours,  the  late  Duke 
of  Guise's  widow,  that  if  she  would,  she  might  have 
her  revenge.  Were  Coligny  killed,  the  King  would  be 
again  manageable.  The  Huguenots  would  probably 
take  arms  to  avenge  his  death.  After  a  few  days  of 
fury  a  little  water  would  wash  the  blood  from  the 
streets  of  Paris,  and  the  catastrophe  would  be  explained 
to  the  world  as  the  last  act  of  the  civil  war.i 

In  becoming  acquainted  with  the  women  among 
whom  she  was  educated,  we  cease  to  wonder 
at  the  Queen  of  Scots'  depravity.  To  the 
Duchesse  the  assassination  of  the  Admiral  was  the  de- 
lightful gratification  of  a  laudable  desire.  The  Duke  of 
Guise  and  his  uncle  the  Duke  of  Aumale  were  taken 
into  counsel ;  an  instrument  was  found  in  a  man  named 
Maurevert,  who  had  tried  his  hand  already  in  the  same 
enterprise,  and  having  failed,  was  eager  for  a  new  op- 
portunity. He  was  placed  in  a  house  between  the 
Louvre  and  the  Rue  de  Bethisi,  where  his  intended 
victim  lodged ;  and  after  waiting  for  two  days,  on  the 
morning  of  the  22d,  as  the  Admiral  was  slowly  walking 
past,  reading,  Maurevert  succeeded  in  shooting  him. 
The  work  was  not  done  effectually  ;  the  gun  was  loaded 
with  slugs,  one  of  which  shattered  a  finger,  the  other 
lodged  in  an  arm.  The  Admiral  was  assisted  home  — 
the  house  from  which  the  shot  was  fired  was  recognised 


o 


1  This  is  the  explanation  given  by  the  Duke  of  Anjou  of  his  mother's 
conduct;  and  as  he  made  no  attempt  to  palliate  either  her  treachery  or  his 
own,  there  is  no  reason  to  question  his  truth.  —  Histoire  de  France,  Mar- 
tin, Vol.  IX. 


400  History  of  England.  [Ch.  xxiii. 

as  belonging  to  the  Guise  family,  and  the  assassin  was 
seen  galloping  out  of  St.  Antoine  on  a  horse  known  to 
be  the  Duke's.  The  King,  when  the  news  reached 
him,  was  playing  tennis  with  Guise  himself  and  Te- 
ligny  the  Admiral's  son-in-law.  He  dashed  his  racket 
on  the  pavement,  and  went  angrily  to  the  palace.  Na- 
varre and  Cond^  came  to  him  to  say  that  their  lives 
were  in  danger,  and  to  ask  permission  to  leave  Paris. 
The  King  said  it  was  he  who  had  been  wounded,  and 
he  would  make  such  an  example  of  the  murderers  as 
should  be  a  lesson  to  all  posterity.  Conde  and  all  who 
were  afraid  might  come  to  the  Louvre  for  protection. 
Charles  placed  a  guard  at  Coligny's  house  ;  he  sent 
his  own  surgeon  to  attend  him,  and  went  himself  to 
his  bedside. 

The  Queen  Mother  and  Anjou,  not  daring  to  trust 
the  King  out  of  their  sight,  accompanied  him.  The 
Admiral  desired  to  speak  to  Charles  alone,  and  he  sent 
them  out  of  the  room.  When  he  followed  them,  they 
pressed  him  to  tell  them  what  Cohgny  had  said. 
Charles,  after  a  pause,  answered  :  "  He  said  that  you 
two  had  too  much  hand  in  the  management  of  the 
State  ;  and,  by  God's  death,  he  spoke  true." 

So  passed  the  22d  of  August.  The  next  morning 
Guise  and  Aumale  came  to  the  palace  to  say 

August  23.        ,1      ,    -r   -1      •  •       -D      •  ] 

that  11  their  presence  in  Fans  caused  unea- 
siness, they  were  ready  to  leave  the  city  ;  and  the 
King  bade  them  go.  His  words  and  manner  were  so 
completely  reassuring  that  the  Huguenot  leaders  put 
away  their  mismvings. 

The  Vidame  of  Chartres  still  urged  flight,  distrust- 
ing  Charles's  power  to  protect  them ;  but  Conde,  Te- 
ligny,  Rochefoucault,  Montgomery,  all  opposed  him. 
To  retire  would  be  to  leave  the  Admiral  in  danger. 


1572.]  The  Reign  of  ElizahetJi.  401 

His  wound  appeared  onlj  to  have  increased  the  King's 
resolution  to  stand  by  him ;  and  being  themselves 
most  anxious  to  prevent  disturbance  and  give  no  cause 
of  offence,  they  would  not  even  permit  their  followers 
to  watch  in  the  streets.  A  few  hundred  of  them  pa- 
raded in  arms  in  the  afternoon  under  the  windows  of 
the  Hotel  Guise ;  but  not  a  single  act  of  violence  was 
committed  to  excuse  a  Catholic  rising  ;  and  when  they 
broke  up  at  night,  they  left  the  city  ostentatiously  to 
the  ordinary  police  and  the  Royal  Guard. 

So  far,  the  Queen  Mother's  plot  had  failed.  The 
Admiral  Avas  not  dead.  The  Huguenots  had  not 
broken  the  peace.  The  Guises  were  disgraced  ;  and, 
if  they  were  arrested,  thev  were  likelv  to  reveal  the 
name  of  their  instigator.  That  same  afternoon  Cath- 
erine  sent  for  the  Count  de  Retz,  Marshal  Tavannes, 
and  the  Due  de  Nevers,  to  the  gardens  of  the  Tuile- 
ries  :  all  these  were  members  of  Charles's  Council, 
ardent  Catholics,  and  passionately  opposed  to  the 
Spanish  Avar.  After  some  hours'  consultation,  they 
adjourned,  still  undecided  what  to  do,  to  the  King's 
Cabinet.  For  many  years  —  ever  since  his  father's 
death  —  to  get  possession  of  the  King's  person  had 
been  a  favourite  scheme  of  the  Prince  of  Conde  and 
the  Admiral.  They  had  wished  to  separate  him  from 
his  Italian  mother,  to  bring  him  up  a  Protestant,  or  to 
keep  him,  at  all  events,  as  a  security  for  their  own 
safety.  The  conspiracy  of  Amboise  had  been  followed 
once,  if  not  twice,  by  similar  projects.  The  Admiral  es- 
pecially, ever  prompt  and  decisive,  Avas  knoAvn  through- 
out to  have  recommended  such  a  method  of  ending 
the  civil  Avar.  That  at  this  particular  crisis  a  fresh 
purpose  of  the  same  kind  Avas  formed  or  thought  of,  is 

in  itself  extremely  improbable,  and  the  Court    after- 
VOL.  X.  26 


402  History  of  England.  [Ch.  xxiii. 

wards  entirely  failed  to  produce  evidence  of  such  a 
thing.  It  is  likely,  however,  that  impatient  expres- 
sions tendino;  in  that  direction  might  have  been  used 
by  the  Admiral's  friends.  The  temptation  may  easily 
have  been  sreat  to  divide  Charles  from  his  Catholic 
advisers  at  a  time  when  he  was  himself  so  willing  to 
be  rid  of  their  control,  and,  at  all  events,  past  exam- 
ples gave  plausibility  to  the  suggestion  that  it  might 
be  so.  With  some  proofs,  forged  or  real,  in  her  hand 
that  he  was  in  personal  danger,  the  Queen  Mother 
presented  herself  to  her  son.  She  told  him  that  at  the 
moment  that  she  was  speaking  the  Huguenots  were 
armino;.  Sixteen  thousand  of  them  intended  to  assem- 
ble  in  the  morning,  seize  the  palace,  destroy  herself, 
the  Duke  of  Anjou,  and  the  Catholic  noblemen,  and 
carry  off  Charles.  The  conspiracy,  she  said,  extended 
through  France.  The  chiefs  of  the  congregations 
were  waiting  for  a  signal  from  Coligny  to  rise  in  every 
province  and  town.  The  Catholics  had  discovered  the 
plot,  and  did  not  mean  to  sit  still  to  be  mui'dered.  If 
the  King  refused  to  act  with  them,  they  would  choose 
another  leader ;  and  whatever  happened,  he  would  be 
himself  destroyed. 

Unable  to  say  that  the  story  could  not  be  true, 
Charles  looked  enquiringly  at  Tavannes  and  De  Ne- 
vers,  and  they  both  confirmed  the  Queen  Mother's 
words.  Shaking  his  incredulity  with  reminders  of  Am- 
boise  and  Meaux,  Catherine  went  on  to  say  that  one 
man  was  the  cause  of  all  the  troubles  in  the  realm. 
The  Admiral  aspired  to  rule  all  France,  and  she  —  she 
admitted,  with  Anjou  and  the  Guises,  had  conspired  to 
kill  him  to  save  the  King  and  the  country.  She 
dropped  all  disguise.  The  King,  she  said,  must  now 
assist  them  or  all  Avould  be  lost.     The  first  blow  had 


1572.]  Tlie  Reign  of  Elizabeth.  403 

failed,  but  it  must  be  repeated  at  once.  The  Admiral, 
with  the  rest  of  the  Huguenot  leaders,  must  die. 

A  grown  man,  in  possession  of  his  senses,  would 
have  suspected  the  story  from  the  proposal  with  which 
it  ended.  Had  there  been  truth  in  it,  the  hands  wliich 
could  murder  could  arrest ;  the  conspirators  could  be 
taken  in  their  beds,  and,  if  found  guilty,  could  be  le- 
gally punished.  It  was  easy  to  say,  however,  that  the 
Huguenots  were  present  in  such  force  that  the  only 
safety  was  in  surprise.  Charles  was  a  weak,  passionate 
boy,  alone  in  the  dark  conclave  of  iniquity.  He 
stormed,  raved,  wept,  implored,  spoke  of  his  honour, 
his  plighted  word ;  swore  at  one  moment  that  the  Ad- 
miral should  not  be  touched,  then  prayed  them  to  try 
other  means.  But  clear,  cold,  and  venomous,  Cather- 
ine told  him  it  was  too  late.  If  there  was  a  judicial 
enquiry,  the  Guises  would  shield  themselves  by  tell- 
ing all  that  they  knew.  They  would  betray  her  ; 
they  would  betray  his  brother  ;  and,  fairly  or  unfairly, 
they  would  not  spare  himself.  He  might  protest  his 
innocence,  but  the  world  would  not  believe  him.  For 
an  hour  and  a  half  the  King  continued  to  struggle. 

"  You  refuse  tlien,"  Catherine  said  at  last.  "  If  it 
be  so,  your  mother  and  your  brother  must  care  for 
themselves.  Permit  us  to  go."  The  Kino;  scowled 
at  her.  "  Is  it  that  you  are  afraid.  Sire  ?  "  she  hissed 
in  his  ear. 

"  By  God's  death,"  he  cried,  springing  to  his  feet, 
"  since  you  will  kill  the  Admiral,  kill  them  all.  Kill 
all  the  Huguenots  in  France,  that  none  may  be  left  to 
reproacli  me.     Mort  Dieu  !     Kill  them  all." 

He  dashed  out  of  the  cabinet.  A  list  of  those  who 
were  to  die  was  instantly  drawn  up.  Navarre  and 
Cond^  were  first  included  ;  but  Catherine   prudently 


404  History  of  England.  [Ch.  xxiir. 

reflected  that  to  kill  the  Bourbons  would  make  the 
Guises  too  stroncr.  Five  or  six  names  were  added  to 
the  Admiral's,  and  these  Catherine  afterwards  asserted 
were  all  that  it  was  intended  should  suffer.  Even  she 
herself,  perhaps,  was  not  prepared  for  the  horrors  that 
would  follow  when  the  mob  were  let  loose  upon  their 
prey. 

Night  had  now  fallen.  Guise  and  Aumale  were  still 
lurking  in  the  city,  and  came  Avith  the  Duke  of  Mont- 
pensier  at  Catherine's  summons.  The  persons  who 
were  to  be  killed  were  in  different  parts  of  the  town. 
Each  took  charge  of  a  district.  Montpensier  promised 
to  see  to  the  Palace  ;  Guise  and  his  uncle  undertook 
the  Admiral  ;  and  below  these,  the  Avord  Avent  out  to 
the  leaders  of  the  already  organized  sections,  who  had 
been  disappointed  once,  but  AA-hose  hour  was  now  come. 
The  Catholics  were  to  recognise  one  another  in  the 
confusion  by  a  white  handkerchief  on  the  left  arm  and 
a  white  cross  in  their  caps.  Tlie  Royal  Guard,  Cath- 
olics to  a  man,  were  instruments  ready  made  for  the 
work.  Guise  assembled  the  officers :  he  told  them  that 
the  Huguenots  were  preparing  to  rise,  and  that  the  King 
had  ordered  their  instant  punishment.  The  officers 
asked  no  questions,  and  desired  no  better  service.  The 
business  Avas  to  begin  at  dawn.  The  signal  would  be 
the  tolling  of  the  great  bell  at  the  Palace  of  Justice, 
and  the  first  death  was  to  be  Coligny's. 

The  soldiers  stole  to  their  posts.  Twelve  hundred 
lay  along  the  Seine,  between  the  riA^er  and  the  Hotel 
de  Ville  ;  other  companies  watched  at  the  Louvre.  As 
the  darkness  waned,  the  Queen  Mother  went  doA\-n  to 
the  gate.  The  stillness  of  the  dawn  Avas 
broken  by  an  accidental  pistol-shot.  Her  heart 
sank,  and  she  sent  off  a  messenger  to  tell   Guise  to 


i 


1572.]  TJie  Reign  of  Elizabeth.  405 

pause.  But  it  was  too  late.  A  minute  later  the  bell 
boomed  out,  and  the  massacre  of  St.  Bartholomew  had 
commenced. 

The  Admiral  was  feverish  with  his  wounds,  and  had 
not  slept.  The  surgeon  and  a  Huguenot  minister, 
named  Malin,  had  passed  the  night  with  him.  At  the 
first  sounds  he  imagined  that  there  was  an  emeute  of 
the  Catholics  at  the  Court ;  but  the  crash  of  his  own 
gate,  and  shots  and  shrieks  in  the  court  below  the 
window  told  him  that,  whatever  was  the  cause,  his 
own  life  was  in  danger.  He  sat  up  in  his  bed.  "  M. 
Malin,"  he  said,  "  pray  for  me  ;  I  have  long  expected 
this."  Some  of  his  attendants  rushed  half-dressed  into 
the  room.  "  Gentlemen,  save  yourselves,"  he  said  to 
them  ;  "  I  commend  my  soul  to  my  Saviour." 

They  scattered,  escaping  or  trying  to  escape  by  the 
roofs  and  balconies  ;  a  German  servant  alone  remained 
with  him.  The  door  was  burst  open  immediately  after, 
and  the  officer  who  was  in  charge  of  the  house,  a  Bo- 
hemian servant  of  Guise,  and  a  renegade  Huguenot 
soldier,  rushed  in  witl)  drawn  swords. 

"  Are  you  the  Admiral  ?  "  the  Bohemian  cried. 

"  I  am,"  replied  Coligny  ;  "  and,  young  man,  you 
should  respect  my  age  and  my  wounds :  but  the  term 
of  my  life  does  not  rest  in  the  pleasure  of  such  as  thou."  ^ 

The  Bohemian,  with  a  curse,  stabbed  him  in  the 
breast,  and  struck  him  again  on  the  head.  The  win- 
dow was  open.  "  Is  it  done  ?  "  cried  Guise  from  the 
court  below,  "  is  it  done  ?  Fling  him  out  that  we  may 
see  him."  Still  breathing,  the  Admiral  was  hurled 
upon  the  pavement.  The  Bastard  of  Angouleme  wiped 
the  blood  from  his  face  to  be  sure  of  his  identity,  and 
then  kicking  him  as  he  lay,  shouted,    "  So    far    well. 

1  "  Aupsi  bien  ne  feras-tu  ma  vie  plus  brfeve."  —  Martin,  Vol.  IX. 


406  History  of  England.  [Ch.  xxiri. 

Courage,  my  brave  bojs  !  now  for  the  rest."  One 
of  the  Due  de  Nevers's  people  hacked  off  the  head. 
A  rope  was  knotted  about  the  ankles,  and  the  corpse 
was  dragged  out  into  the  street  amidst  the  howling 
crowd.  Teligny,  who  was  in  the  adjoining  house,  had 
sprung  out  of  bed  at  the  first  disturbance,  ran  down 
into  the  court,  and  climbed  by  a  ladder  to  the  roof. 
From  behind  a  parapet  he  saw  his  father-in-law  mur- 
dered, and,  scrambling  on  the  tiles,  concealed  himself  in 
a  garret ;  but  he  was  soon  tracked,  torn  from  his  hiding- 
place,  and  thrown  upon  the  stones  with  a  dagger  in  his 
side.^  Rochefoucault  and  the  rest  of  the  Admiral's 
friends  who  lodged  in  the  neighbourhood  were  disposed 
of  in  the  same  way,  and  so  complete  was  the  surprise 
that  there  was  not  the  most  faint  attempt  at  resistance. 
Montpensier  had  been  no  less  successful  in  the 
Louvre.  The  staircases  were  all  beset.  The  retinues 
of  the  Kincr  of  Navarre  and  the  Prince  had  been 
lodged  in  the  palace  at  Charles's  particular  desire. 
Their  names  were  called  over,  and  as  they  descended 
unarmed  into  the  quadrangle  they  were  hewn  in  pieces. 
There,  in  heaps,  they  fell  below  the  Royal  window 
under  the  eyes  of  the  miserable  King,  who  was  forced 
forward  between  his  mother  and  his  brother  that  he 
might  be  seen  as  the  accomplice  of  the  massacre. 
Most  of  the  victims  were  killed  upon  the  spot.  Some 
fled  wounded  up  the  stairs,  and  were  slaughtered  in 
the  presence  of  the  Princesses.  One  gentleman 
rushed  bleeding  into  the  apartment  of  the  newly-mar- 
ried Margaret,  clung  to  her  dress,  and  was  hardly 
saved  by  her  intercession.  By  seven  o'clock  the  work 
which  Guise  and  his  immediate  friends  had  undertaken 
was  finished,  with  but  one  failure.  The  Count  Mout- 
1  News  from  Paris,  September,  1572:  MSS.  France. 


1572.]  The  Rdgn  of  Elizaheth.  407 

gomery  and  the  Vidarae  of  Chartres  lodged  in  the 
Faubourg  St.  Germain,  across  the  water,  on  the  out- 
skirts of  the  town.  A  party  of  assassins  had  been 
sent  to  dispatch  them,  but  had  loitered  on  the  way  to 
do  some  private  murdering  on  their  own  account. 
When  the  news  reached  Montgomery  that  Paris  was 
up,  he  supposed,  like  Coligny,  that  the  Catholics  had 
risen  against  the  Court.  He  ran  down  the  river's 
bank  with  a  handful  of  men  behind  him,  opposite  tlie 
Tuileries,  intending  to  cross  to  help  his  friends ;  but 
the  boats  were  all  secured  on  the  other  side.  The  sol- 
diers shot  at  him  from  under  the  palace.  It  was  said 
—  it  rests  only  on  the  worthless  authority  of  Bran- 
tome  —  that  Charles  himself  in  his  frenzy  snatched  a 
gun  from  a  servant  and  fired  at  him  also.  Montgom- 
ery did  not  wait  for  further  explanation.  He,  the  Vi- 
dame,  and  a  few  others,  sprang  on  their  horses,  rode 
for  their  lives,  and  escaped  to  England. 

The  mob  meanwhile  was  in  full  enjoyment.  Long 
possessed  with  the  accursed  formulas  of  the  priests, 
they  believed  that  the  enemies  of  God  were  given  into 
their  hands.  While  dukes  and  lords  were  killing  at 
the  Louvre,  the  bands  of  the  sections  imitated  them 
with  more  than  success ;  men,  women,  and  even  chil- 
dren, striving  which  should  be  the  first  in  the  pious 
work  of  murder.  All  Cathohc  Paris  was  at  the  busi- 
ness, and  every  Huguenot  household  had  neighbours 
to  know  and  denounce  them.  Throuorh  street  and 
lane  and  quay  and  causeway,  the  air  rang  with  yells 
and  curses,  pistol-shots  and  crashing  windows ;  the 
roadways  were  strewed  witli  mangled  bodies,  the  doors 
were  blocked  by  the  dead  and  dying.  From  garret, 
closet,  roof,  or  stable,  crouching  creatures  were  torn 
shrieking  out,  and  stabbed  and  hacked  at ;  boys  prac- 


408  History  of  England.  [Ch.  xxiil. 

tised  their  hands  by  strangling  babies  in  their  cradles, 
and  headless  bodies  were  trailed  along  the  trottoirs. 
Carts  struooled  through  the  crowd  carrying  the  dead 
in  piles  to  the  Seine,  which,  by  special  Providence, 
was  that  morning  in  flood,  to  assist  in  sweeping  heresy 
away.  Under  the  sanction  of  the  great  cause,  lust, 
avarice,  fear,  malice,  and  revenge,  all  had  free  indul- 
gence, and  glutted  themselves  to  nausea.  Even  the 
distinctions  of  creed  itself  became  at  last  confounded  ; 
and  every  man  or  woman  who  had  a  quarrel  to  avenge, 
a  lawsuit  to  settle,  a  wife  or  husband  grown  inconven- 
ient, or  a  prospective  inheritance  if  obstacles  could  be  re- 
moved, found  a  ready  road  to  the  object  of  their  desires. 

Towards  midday  some  of  the  quieter  people  attempted 
to  restore  order.  A  party  of  the  town  police  made 
their  way  to  the  palace.  Charles  caught  eagerly  at 
their  offers  of  service,  and  bade  them  do  their  utmost 
to  put  the  people  down ;  but  it  was  all  in  vain. 
The  soldiers,  maddened  with  plunder  and  blood,  could 
not  be  brought  to  assist,  and  without  them  nothing 
could  be  done.  All  that  afternoon  and  night,  and  the 
next  day  and  the  day  after,  the  horrible  scenes  con- 
tinued, till  the  flames  burnt  down  at  last  for  want  of 
fuel.  Tlie  number  who  perished  in  Paris  was  com- 
puted variously  from  two  to  ten  thousand.  In  this, 
as  in  all  such  instances,  the  lowest  estimate  is  probably 
the  nearest  to  the  truth. 

The  massacre  was  completed  —  completed  in  Paris, 
only,  as  it  proved,  to  be  continued  elsewhere.  It  was 
assuming  a  form,  however,  considerably  larger  than 
anything  which  the  contrivers  of  it  had  contemplated  ; 
and  it  became  a  question  what  explanation  of  such  a 
business  should  be  given  to  the  world.  The  age  was 
not  tender-hearted  ;  but  a  scene  of  this  kind  was  as 


1572.]  The  Reign  of  Elizabeth.  409 

yet  unprecedented,  and  transcended  far  the  worst  atroc- 
ities which  had  been  witnessed  in  the  Netherlands. 
The  opinion  of  Europe  would  require  some  account  of 
it,  and  the  Court  at  first  thought  that  half  the  truth 
might  represent  the  whole.  On  the  2-4th,  while  the 
havoc  was  at  its  height,  circulars  went  round  to  the 
provinces  that  a  quarrel  had  broken  out  between  the 
Houses  of  Guise  and  CoHgny ;  that  the  Admiral  and 
many  more  had  been  unfortunately  killed,  and  that  the 
King  himself  had  been  in  danger  through  his  efforts 
to  control  the  people.  The  governors  of  the  different 
towns  were  commanded  to  repress  at  once  any  symp- 
toms of  disorder  which  might  show  themselves,  and 
particularly  to  allow  no  injury  to  be  done  to  the 
Huguenots.  Aumale  and  Guise  had  gone  in  pursuit 
of  Montgomery,  and  at  the  moment  were  not  in  Paris. 
The  Queen  Mother  used  the  opportunity  to  burden 
them  with  the  entire  responsibility.  But  her  genius 
had  overshot  its  mark,  and  she  was  not  to  escape  so 
easily.  Guise  returned  in  the  evening  to  find  the 
odium  cast  upon  himself  He  at  once  insisted  that 
the  circulars  should  be  recalled.  The  Parlement  of 
Paris  was  assembled,  and  the  King  was  compelled  to 
admit  j)ublicly  that  the  troops  had  received  their  orders 
from  himself  The  story  of  the  Huguenot  conspiracy 
was  revived,  systematised,  and  supported  by  pretended 
confessions  made  at  the  moment  of  death  by  men  who 
could  now  offer  no  contradiction.  The  Protestants  of 
the  provinces,  finding  themselves  denounced  from  the 
throne,  were  likely  instantly  to  take  arms  to  defend 
themselves.  Couriers  were  therefore  despatched  Avith 
second  orders  that  they  should  be  dealt  with  as  they 
had  been  dealt  with  at  Paris  ;  and  at  Lyons,  Orleans, 
Rouen,  Bourdeaux,  Toulon,  Meaux,  in  half  the  towns 


410  History  of  E^igland.  [Ch.  xxiii. 

and  villages  of  France,  the  bloody  drama  was  played 
once  again.  The  King,  thrown  out  into  the  hideous 
torrent  of  blood,  became  drunk  with  frenzy,  and  let 
slaughter  have  its  way,  till  even  Guise  himself  affected 
to  be  shocked,  and  interposed  to  put  an  end  to  it ;  not, 
however,  till,  according  to  the  belief  of  the  times,  a 
hundred  thousand  men,  women,  and  children  had  been 
miserably  murdered.^ 

The  guilt  of  such  enormous  wickedness  may  be  dis- 
tinguished from  its  cause.  The  guilt  was  the  Queen 
Mother's  ;  the  cause  was  Catholic  fanaticism.  Cath- 
erine de  Medici  had  designed  the  political  murder  of 
a  few  inconvenient  persons,  with  a  wicked  expectation 
that  their  friends  in  return  mio;ht  kill  Guise  and  his 
uncle,  whose  power  was  troublesome  to  her.  The 
massacre  was  the  spontaneous  work  of  theological 
frenzy  heated  to  the  boiling  point.  No  imaginable 
army  of  murderers  could  have  been  provided  by  the 
most  accomplished  conspirator  to  have  executed  such  a 
M^ork  in  such  a  way.  The  actors  in  it  were  the  will- 
ing instruments  of  teachers  of  religion  as  sincere  in 
their  madness  as  themselves.  The  equity  of  history 
requires  that  men  be  tried  by  the  standard  of  their 
times.  The  citizens  of  Paris  and  Orleans  may  be  par- 
doned if  they  were  not  more  enlightened  than  the 
Sovereign  Pontiff  of  Christendom  and  the  Most  Cath- 
olic King  of  Spain.  Philip,  when  the  news  reached 
him,  is  said  to  have  laughed  for  the  first  and  only  time 
in  his  life.  He  was  happy  in  being  saved  from  a  com- 
bination which  had  threatened  him  with  the  loss  of  his 
Low  Countries.     But  a  deeper  source  of  gratification 

1  The  number  again  may  be  hoped  to  have  been  prodigiously  exagger- 
ated ;  with  all  large  figures,  when  unsupported  by  exact  statistics,  it  is  safe 
to  divide  at  least  by  ten. 


1572.]  The  Beign  of  ElizahetTi.  411 

to  him  Avas  the  public  evidence  that  his  brother-in-law 
no  longer  intended  to  tamper  with  heresy,  that  France 
was  in  no  flirther  danwr  of  followincr  Eno-land  into 
schism,  and  that  the  seamless  robe  of  the  Saviour  was 
not  to  be  parted  among  His  executioners. 

At  Rome,  in  the  circle  of  the  saints,  the  delight  was 
even  more  unbounded.     Where  the  blood  was 

,         .  •  o  ^  •  11  September. 

nownig  the  voice  or  humanity  could  not  vit- 
terly  be  stifled,  and  expressions  of  displeasure  began 
early  to  be  heard.^  In  the  Holy  City  there  was  a  uni- 
versal outpouring  of  thanksgiving  to  the  Father  who 
had  taken  pity  on  His  children.  The  cannon  were  fired 
at  St.  Angelo,  the  streets  were  illuminated,  Pope  Greg- 
ory with  his  cardinals  Avalked  in  procession  from  sanct- 
uary to  sanctuary  to  offer  their  sacrifice  of  adoring 
gratitude.  As,  for  an  act  of  hostilit}'  committed  five  °"^ 
centuries  before,  a  prophet  of  Israel  commanded  the 
extermination  of  an  entire  nation  ;  as  then  the  baby 
was  not  spared  at  the  breast,  the  mother  with  child, 
the  a^ed,  and  the  sick  were  slano;htered  in  their  beds 
—  all  murdered  ;  as  the  hideous  fury  was  extended  to 
the  cattle  in  the  field,  and  all  living  things  were  piled 
together  in  a  gory  mass  of  carnage  :  so  another  slaugh- 
ter of  scarce  inferior  horror  had  again  been  perpetrated 
in  the  name  of  religion,  and  the  Vicar  of  Christ,  like 
a  second  Samuel,  bestowed  upon  the  deed  the  especial 
blessing  of  the  Almighty.     The  scene  of  the  massa- 

1  "  It  is  much  lamented  to  see  the  King's  cruelty  even  by  the  Papists. 
Many  be  sorry  that  so  monstrous  a  murder  was  invented,  and  presently 
they  dread  their  own  lives.  The  Duke  of  Guise  himself  is  not  so  bloody, 
Deither  did  he  kill  any  man  himself  but  saveil  diverse.  lie  sjjoke  openly 
that  for  the  Admiral's  death  lie  was  glad,  for  he  knew  him  to  be  his  enemy; 
but  he  tiiought  for  the  rest  tliat  the  King  had  put  such  to  death  as,  if  it 
pleased  him,  might  have  done  good  service."  —  News  from  Paris,  Septem- 
ber, 1572 :  .l/.S'.S'.  France. 


412  History  of  England.  [Ch.  xxiil. 

ere  was  painted  by  the  Pope's  orders,  with  an  inscrip- 
tion immortalising  his  own  gratification  and  approval.^ 
He  struck  a  commemorative  medal,  with  on  the  one 
side  his  own  image,  on  the  other  the  destroying  Angel 
immolating  the  Huguenots.  He  despatched  Cardinal 
Orsini  to  Paris  to  congratulate  the  King  ;  and  the  as- 
sassins of  Lyons,  on  whose  hands  the  blood  of  the 
innocents  was  scarcely  dry,  knelt  before  the  holy  man 
in  the  cathedral  as  he  passed  through,  and  received  his 
apostolic  blessing.  Such  was  the  judgment  upon  the 
massacre  in  the  Catholic  world,  where  no  worldly  in- 
terests obscured  the  clearness  of  the  sacred  vision. 

In  England,  meanwhile,  to  the  latest  moment,  the 
Alen^on  marriage  was  still  the  subject  of  perpetual 
discussion.  The  Court  was  on  progress  :  the  Queen 
had  been  at  Woburn  and  Gorhambury,  and  was  spend- 
ing: the  last  week  of  August  at  Kenilworth  and  War- 
wick  —  shooting,  hunting,  and,  in  the  intervals,  play- 
ing the  spinette  to  the  French  Ambassador,  talking 
of  her  boy-suitor,  and  speculating  on  the  possibility  of 
accepting  him.  As  usual,  she  objected  her  age  ;  as 
usual,  La  Mothe  F^nelon  and  his  companions  insisted 
that  time  had  no  effect  on  beauty  like  her  Majesty's. 
The  small-pox  was  a  more  considerable  difficulty.  If 
some  skilful  doctor  could  mend  Alengon's  face,  the 
worst  objection,  it  was  hoped,  might  be  removed. 
Three  couriers  arrived  close  on  one  another  at  Kenil- 
worth from  Paris,  bringing  letters  from  Charles  to  the 
Ambassador,  and  letters  from  Coligny  and  Montmo- 
rency to  Leicester  and  Burghley.  All  were  in  the  same 
strain,  pressing  either  for  the  marriage  or  else  for  a 
declaration  against  Spain  ;  all  urging  the  Queen  not 
to  let  the  opportunity  pass  fi-om  her.  If  England 
1  "Pontifex  Colignii  necem  probat." 


1572.]  Tlie  Reign  of  Elizabeth.  41 


rt 


would  commit  itself,  Charles  promised  to  follow,  and  to 
contribute  at  once  200,000  ducats  towards  Elizabeth's 
expenses.^ 

The  Queen  intimated  that  if  the  King  of  France 
would  repeat  the  same  promises  in  a  letter  under  his 
own  liand  to  herself,  she  would  consider  his  proposal. 
For  the  present  she  would  help  the  Prince  of  Orange 
underiiand  with  men  and  money,  but  she  could  not 
venture  into  open  war  single-handed.^  With  this  an- 
swer De  la  Mole  took  his  leave,  intending  to  return 
home  at  once  and  persuade  Alengon  to  pay  Elizabeth  a 
visit.  La  Mothe  went  with  him  to  London,  where 
they  met  the  news  of  the  massacre,  and  found  the  city 
filled  with  panic-stricken  Huguenots,  who  had  crossed 
the  Channel  in  open  boats. 

The  French  alliance  had  been  the  work  of  states- 
men, and  had  never  been  liked  by  the  English  people. 
They  had  submitted  to  it  as  a  necessity,  but  with  a 
bad  grace,  and  with  no  expectation  that  good  would 
come  of  it.  In  an  instant,  with  the  shock  of  irresisti- 
ble conviction,  the  belief  spread  that  the  treaty,  the 
suit  of  Alencon,  the  marriage  of  the  Princess  Mar- 
garet,  the  affected  anxiety  of  Charles  to  interfere  in 
the  Netherlands,  were  all  parts  of  a  conspiracy  to 
throw  the  Huguenots  off  their  guard,  and  thus  destroy 

1  "  En  este  tiempo  que  alii  estuv6  el  Mot,  que  fueron  20  dias,  le  vinit^ron 
tres  correos  despachados  por  el  Key  con  cartas  siiyas  para  c'l,  y  on  todas  ellas 
le  decia  que  con  toda  instancia  dixese  y  hiciese  coii  la  Keyna  que  vonipiese 
con  su  Magd  Catolica,  pues  habia  tan  urgentes  razones  y  causas  para  ello, 
vistas  las  diferencias  que  entre  ambos  habia,  no  perdiendo  tan  buena  con- 
junction dc  tiempo,  y  que  habiendolo  asi,  so  moverian  con  ello  causas  lia- 
tas  para  que  el  hiciese  lo  niisnio  publicainente,  y  para  que  supiese  su  buen 
animo  y  voluntad  que  para  esto  tenia,  en  rompiendo  ella  dentro  de  quince 
dias  le  daria  luego  200  mil  ducados.  Mostrandole  siempre  el  Mot  d  la 
Reyna  las  proprias  cartas  quo  el  Rev  le  escribia."  —  Antonio  de  Fogaca  a 
Ruy  Gomez.     Londres,  Setienibre  8,  1572:  MS.  Simancas. 

2  Ibid. 


414  History  of  England.  [Cn.  xxiii. 

them.  Armed  with  the  letter  which  Charles  wrote 
the  day  of  the  massacre,  and  in  which  he  laid  the 
blame  upon  Guise,  La  Mothe  attempted  to  check  the 
torrent  of  invective  ;  ^  but  he  was  himself  obliged  after 
the  next  post  to  change  his  language,  and  his  double 
story  was  taken  as  a  fresh  evidence  of  treachery. 
The  atrocities  in  the  French  provinces  furnished  fuel 
to  the  indionation.  Eno-hsh  witnesses  of  the  scenes 
at  Rouen  shut  La  Mothe's  mouth  and  made  explana- 
tion impossible.  The  universal  and  not  unnatural 
opinion  was  that,  finding  themselves  baffled  in  the  field, 
the  Papal,  French,  and  Spanish  Courts  had  laid  a  plot 
for  the  general  murder  of  Protestants  all  over  Europe, 
that  the  English  and  Scotch  Catholics  were  secret 
parties  to  it,  and  that  the  festival  of  the  Gallic  nuptials 
was  to  be  celebrated  everywhere  as  the  opportunity 
offered. 

The  accounts  from  Rome  confirmed  the  most  sinister 
interpretation.  The  cry  rose  in  the  pulpits  of  blood 
for  blood.  Every  Papist  was  regarded  as  a  murderer 
in  disguise  ;  and  the  symptoms  were  so  alarming  of  an 
intention  to  give  them  "  Paris  justice,"  that  Burghley 
had  to  hurry  up  to  London  to  keep  his  friends  in  order. 
The  Bishops  sent  a  representation  to  the  Queen  that, 
for  the  quiet  of  the  realm,  such  Catholic  priests  and 
gentlemen  as  were  in  prison  for  having  refused  the 
oath  of  allegiance  should  be  immediately  put  to  death. ^ 
Edwin  Sandys,  the  Bishop  of  London,  intimated  to 
Burghley  that  if  this  could  not  be  done,  the  Court  at 
least  should  be  cleared  of  Catholics  and  "  such  as  by 
private  persuasion  overthrew  good  counsel  ;  "  notorious 
Catholic  noblemen  should  be  sent  to  the  Tower  ;  and 

1  La  Mothe  Fenelon  au  Roy,  September  2 :  Depeches,  "Vol.  V. 

2  Antonio  de  Foga^a  to  Riiy  Gomez,  September  8:  MS.  Simancas. 


1572.]  The  Reign  of  JEUzabeth.  415 

the  consciences  of  good  Protestants  should  be  no  longer 
burdened  with  the  Queen's  taste  for  idle  church  cere- 
monies ;  above  all,  and  without  a  moment's  delay,  that 
"  the  Queen  of  Scots'  head  should  be  struck  from  her 
shoulders."  ^ 

This  last  advice,  though  she  could  not  accept  it 
literally,  Elizabeth  was  not  disinclined  to  accept.  She 
had  excused  her  past  hesitation  in  dealing  firmly  with 
Mary  Stuart,  on  the  plea  that  she  could  not  offend 
France.  If  France  was  now  about  to  make  common 
cause  with  Spain,  the  Queen  no  longer  felt  called  on, 
either  by  principle  or  by  prudence,  to  obstruct  the 
demands  of  justice.  She  shrank  still  from  being  the 
avenger  of  her  own  wrongs  ;  but  Sir  Henry  Killegrew 
was  sent  down  in  haste  to  the  Earl  of  Mar,  to  say  that 
the  Queen  of  Scots'  presence  in  England  was  too 
dangerous  to  be  allowed  to  continue  ;  that  it  was  ne- 
cessary to  come  to  a  conclusion  with  her  ;  and  that 
although  she  might  be  tried  and  executed  in  England 
for  her  crimes  against  the  Queen,  yet  that  "  for  cer- 
tain respects  "  it  was  thought  better  that  she  should 
be  given  up  to  the  Scots.  That  there  might  be  no 
mistake  in  the  meaning  of  the  message,  Lord  Burghley 
added,  that  it  was  not  meant  that  she  was  to  exchange 
an  English  for  a  Scotch  prison  :  "  To  have  her  in 
Scotland,  and  to  keep  her,  was  of  all  things  the  most 
dangerous  ;  "  the  Queen  desired  to  be  rid  of  her,  but 
only  "  with  good  assurance  that  the  Scots  would  with- 
out fail  ])roceed  with  her  by  way  of  justice,  so  as 
neither  Scotland  nor  England  should  be  any  more  en- 
dangered by  her."  The  particular  arrangements  were 
trusted  to  the  messenger's  discretion.     Some  near  re- 

1  Edwyn  Sandys  to  Burghley,  September  5:  Illmtrations  of  Bi-itkh  Uis- 
tory,  Vol.  II. 


416  History  of  Mngland.  [Ch.  xxiii. 

lations,  both  of  Mar  and  Morton,  would  be  required  as 
hostages  to  ensure  the  execution,  before  Mary  Stuart 
would  be  parted  with  ;  and  Killegrew  was  instructed 
to  induce  the  Regent,  if  possible,  himself  to  make  the 
first  move,  and  desire  that  she  might  be  given  up.^ 

The  "  certain  respects  "  were  a  desire  to  escape  the 
odium  of  an  act  which  nevertheless  required  to  be 
done  ;  and  a  wish,  that  when  the  Queen  of  Scots' 
punishment  came,  she  should  be  punished  for  a  crime 
which  neitiier  France,  nor  Spain,  nor  the  Pope,  nor 
the  English  Catholics  could  dare  to  defend.  In  Eng- 
land, she  could  be  put  on  her  trial  for  treason  ;  but 
the  law  was  doubtful,  and  the  offence  in  the  eyes 
of  religion  was  a  virtue.  In  Scotland,  she  could  be 
convicted  in  the  presence  of  the  world  of  adultery  and 
murder. 

This  momentous  step  was  followed  by  another  of  no 
less  marked  significance.  Elizabeth  believed  that  the 
long-dreaded  Catholic  League,  in  its  most  frightful 
form,  was  about  to  become  a  reality  ;  that  England,  as 
well  as  all  other  Protestant  countries,  must  look  to  en- 
counter the  entire  force  which  the  Pope  could  direct 
against  them  ;  and  that  she  must  at  length  adopt  the 
open  policy  which  Burghley  had  urged  upon  her  so 
long,  set  her  house  in  order,  put  an  end  to  Scotch 
anarchy,  ally  herself  in  earnest  with  the  Netherlands 
and  the  German  Princes,  and  pi^epare  for  the  strug- 
gle which  was  to  decide  the  fortunes  of  European  lib- 
erty. 

The  Prince  of  Orange  was  lying  at  Ruremonde 
waiting  for  the  French  to  advance  to  relieve  Mons. 
Elizabeth  remembered  for  the  moment,  in  the  words 

1  Secret  instructions  to  Sir  H.  Killegrew,  September  20,  in  Burghley's 
hand:  MSS.  Hatfield. 


1572.]  Tlie  Reign  of  Elizaheth.  417 

of  Walsiiigliam,  tliat  unless  God  had  raised  up  the 
Prince  to  entertain  Spain,  she  would  have  had  the  fire 
long  since  at  her  own  door.  There  was  no  hope  of 
French  assistance  now.  She  ordered  Sir  Thomas 
Gresliam  to  raise  thirty  or  forty  thousand  pounds  and 
take  it  to  Hamburo-h  for  the  Prince's  use  ;  and  she 
prepared  to  improve  at  last  in  seriousness  the  footing 
which  she  already  held  on  the  coast  of  Holland.  Sir 
H.  Gilbert,  who  was  laying  siege  to  Tregouse,  wrote 
that  both  that  town  and  Middleburg  could  be  reduced 
with  a  slight  additional  etfort.  The  Queen,  with  the 
consent  of  the  people,  might  then  be  placed  in  entire 
possession  of  Walcheren  and  the  other  islands.  The 
Zealand  fleet  would  hoist  her  flag ;  the  islands  them- 
selves would  pay  the  expense  both  of  that  and  of  the 
troops  which  she  might  send  to  defend  them ;  and 
with  the  command  of  the  Scheldt,  and  complete  mis- 
tress of  the  seas,  the  Queen  might  dare  the  worst 
which  France  and  Spain  could  do.^ 

Believing  the  extremity  to  be  really  come,  she  al- 
lowed 8000  men  to  be  raised  and  armed  with  precipi- 
tate haste,  and  transports  to  be  provided  to  carry  them 
to  Flushing.  The  musters  were  called  out ;  the  fleet 
at  Portsmouth  was  ordered  into  the  Downs  to  hold  the 
Channel ;  and  Sir  John  Hawkins,  with  twenty  ships, 
equipped  with  Philip's  money,  and  manned  in  part 
with  the  crews  whom  he  had  duped  Philip  into  releas- 
ing from  the  Seville  dungeons,  sailed  for  the  Azores  to 

1  Sir  Humfrey  Gilbert  was  not  afraid  of  responsibility.  "  Sir,"  he  wrote 
to  Burgliley,  "  presuming  of  your  wonted  favours  I  will  desperately  enter 
into  the  matter.  I  do  know  that  her  Jlajesty  and  my  Lords  of  the  Council 
are  many  times  enforced  to  pretend  that  they  nothing  desire.  Wherefore 
what  letters  soever  shall  be  sent  me  from  m}-  Lords  of  the  Council  for  revok- 
ing of  me  home,  I  will  think  them  but  for  form,  except  your  Honour  do 
write  me  your  private  letters  to  return."  — Gilbert  to  Cecil,  September  7: 
MSS.  Flmultrs. 

VOL.  X.  27 


418  History  of  England.  [Ch.  xxiii. 

lie  in  wait  for  the  Mexican  gold  fleet.^  So  desperate 
was  the  English  Government  at  that  moment,  so  de- 
termined to  use  any  means  to  harass  and  embarrass  the 
Catholic  Powers,  that  cannon  and  muskets  were  sent 
to  the  Mediterranean  for  the  Corsairs  of  Barbary  ;  ^ 
whilst  to  make  all  sure  at  home,  the  Prince  of  Orange 
was  told  that  if  he  could  plunge  down  upon  Louvaine, 
seize  the  English  refugees  and  send  them  home,  he 
could  not  demand  a  price  which  Elizabeth  would  re- 
fuse to  pay  for  them.-^ 

So  much  for  Spain  and  Flanders.  It  w^as  more 
difficult  to  determine  what  attitude  to  assume  towards 
the  wretched  Charles  and  Catherine.  The  ratifications 
had  but  just  been  exchanged  of  a  treaty  of  the  closest 
friendship,  and  the  whole  aflTair  was  as  inexplicable  as 
it  was  monstrous.  Fears  at  first  were  entertained  for 
Walsingham  and  his  suite.  It  was  ascertained,  on  this 
point,  that  the  alarm  was  unnecessary.  A  guard  had 
been  placed  at  the  Embassy,  where  all  the  English  in 
Paris  had  collected,  and  one  or  two  only  had  been 
killed  who  had  neglected  to  take  refuge  there.     But 

1  Antonio  de  Foga<;a  to  Ruy  Gomez,  September  8  and  September  16; 

,    Antonio  de  Guaras  to  Alva,  August  30,  September  5,  and  September  18; 

\MS.  Simancas. 
\    2  "  Que  se  habia  dado  licencia   para  llevar  por  mercaderia  a  Berveria, 
a^rtilleria  de    hierro  colado   y   arcabuzes,  y  que   se  llevaria   quantidad." 
Ph,ilip,  who  had  borne  with  equanimity  the  more  serious  information,  wrote 
opposite  to  this  paragraph  "  ojo  "  ! ! 

3  "  La  causa  por  que  Gresham  mas  va  de  procurar  es  de  que  si  en  los 
lugares  que  al  dicho  Orange  se  han  rendido  hubiese  hallado  en  ellos  a  la 
dicha  Condesa  de  Northumberland  la  qual  residia  en  Malinas,  y  al  Conde 
de  Westmoreland,  y  a  Milord  Morlej',  y  a  los  demas  Ingleses  que  los  mas 
estaban  en  Lovayna,  procure  de  haberlos,  aunque  de  por  ellos  muchos 
dineros,  y  los  envie  aqui,  que  esto  es  un  negocio  que  ellos  mucho  desean  y 
procuran;  y  assi  si  los  pobres  no  se  hubieren  salido  de  los  dichos  pueblos 
antes  que  se  rindiesen,  ciertamente  ellos  vendrian  a  manos  destos,  aunque 
les  cueste  grandissima  suma  de  dineros."  —  Foga9a  to  Ruy  Gomez,  Septem- 
ber 16:  MS.  Simancas. 


1572.]  The  Reign  of  Elizabeth.  419 

with  regard  to  the  catastrophe  itself,  Walsinghum's 
first  letters  were  brief  and  obscure.  He  wrote  under 
evident  restraint,  not  daring  to  speak  out  lest  his  words 
might  fall  under  eyes  for  which  they  were  not  in- 
tended. 

TManj  days  passed  before  the  Queen  could  bring  her- 
self to  receive  La  Mothe  F^nelon.  The  wish  of  the 
people  was  to  tear  the  treaty  to  shreds,  drive  La  Mothe 
out  of  the  country,  and  fling  defiance  at  the  whole 
French  nation.  But  impulses  which  may  be  honour- 
able and  right  in  individuals  who  risk  only  their  own 
lives  and  fortunes  are  forbidden  to  those  who  are  re- 
sponsible for  the  safety  of  the  commonwealth.  It 
might  be  heroic,  but  it  would  hardly  be  prudent,  to 
fling  the  gauntlet  in  the  face  of  England's  solitary  ally. 
The  quarrel  was  likely  enough  to  come ;  but  the 
Queen  had  work  enough  upon  her  hands,  and  while 
she  was  preparing  for  the  worst,  she  felt  that  she  could 
do  no  solid  good  by  anticipating  it. 

At  length,  towards  the  middle  of  September,  the 
Ambassador  was  informed  that  he  would  be  admitted. 
The  Court  was  at  Woodstock,  on  its  way  from  War- 
wick to  Windsor.  The  Avhole  Council  was  collected. 
Bedford  and  Bacon,  though  both  unwell,  had  been 
particularly  sent  for.  Queen,  Ministers,  attendants, 
were  all  in  mourning ;  and  when  La  Mothe  Fenelon 
was  introduced,  he  was  received  in  solemn  silence. 
On  such  occasions  the  littleness  of  Elizabeth's  charac- 
ter entirely  disappeared,  and  the  imperial  majesty  of 
her  nobler  nature  possessed  her  wholly.  If  any  mis- 
giving crossed  her  mind  on  her  own  past  proceedings, 
she  showed  no  sifjns  of  it.  She  rose  with  a  grave  but 
not  unkind  expression.  She  drew  La  Mothe  aside  into 
a  window,  and  asked  him  if  the  dreadful  news  which 


\ 


420  History  of  England.  [Ch.  xxni. 

she  had  heard  could  possibly  be  true.  La  Mothe  Fdn- 
elon,  who  was  by  this  time  perfect  in  his  lesson,  pro- 
duced the  story  of  the  Admiral's  conspiracy,  the  plot 
for  the  surprise  of  the  Court,  the  King's  danger,  and 
the  necessity  of  a  desperate  remedy  in  a  desperate 
case. 

Elizabeth  did  not  say  that  she  disbeheved  him  ;  but 
if  the  charge  was  true,  the  King,  she  said,  had  brought 
a  stain  upon  his  reputation  from  which  she  had  hoped 
he  would  have  been  able  to  clear  himself.  She  had 
persuaded  herself  that  the  miserable  scenes  in  Paris 
had  risen  from  some  extraordinary  accident  which. time 
would  explain  ;  but  it  appeared  now  from  what  La 
Mothe  told  her,  that  the  King  had  himself  sanctioned 
an  insurrection  in  which  thousands  of  innocent  persons 
had  lost  their  lives. 

The  Ambassador  explained,  protested,  equivocated. 
He  expressed  a  hope  that  at  least  the  friendship  be- 
tween the  two  countries  would  not  be  disturbed. 

The  Queen  replied,  coldly,  that  she  feared  that  a 
King  who  had  abandoned  his  subjects  might  desert  his 
allies.  She  could  only  hope  that  for  his  own  sake  he 
would  produce  evidence  of  the  alleged  conspiracy,  and 
would  protect  such  of  the  Protestants  as  had  no  share 
in  it. 

La  Mothe,  to  turn  the  subject,  said  that  the  Queen 
of  France  was  near  her  confinement,  and  he  ventured 
to  remind  Elizabeth  that  she  had  promised  to  be  god- 
mother to  the  child. 

She  told  him  that  she  had  intended  to  send  to  Paris 
on  that  occasion  the  most  honourable  embassy  that  had 
ever  left  the  shores  of  England.  She  felt  now  that  she 
could  trust  no  one  whom  she  valued  in  a  country  where 
his  life  would  be  unsafe. 


1572.]  Tlie  Reign  of  Elizabeth.  421 

"With  these  words  she  left  him.  He  turned  to  the 
Council,  but  only  to  hear  the  truth  spoken  to  him  in 
plainer  language.  The  Queen  had  been  at  least  court- 
eous ;  but  he  was  not  to  go  away  with  the  belief  that 
the  English  Government  accepted  his  excuses. 

Lord  Burghley  said  that  the  Paris  Massacre  was  the 
most  horrible  crime  which  had  been  committed  in  the 
world  since  the  crucifixion  of  Christ.  The  very  Span- 
iards and  Italians  would  condemn  such  unheard-of  cru- 
elty. He  could  not  say  on  whom  the  guilt  most  rested, 
but  the  pliglited  word  of  the  King  had  been  violated, 
and  a  deed  of  unexampled  infamy  had  been  committed 
in  his  presence. 

Words  of  this  kind,  La  Mothe  intimated,  might  lead 
to  a  breach  of  amity,  but  the  Council  was  indifferent  to 
consequences. 

Li  France,  at  the  focus  of  the  danger,  Walsingham 
used  the  same  language.  A  letter  to  Charles  had  been 
found  among  the  Admiral's  papers,  putting  him  on  his 
guard  against  Spain  and  England.  The  Queen  Mother 
showed  it  to  Elizabeth's  Minister,  and  he  nobly  an- 
swered, "  that,  however  the  Admiral  was  affected  to 
England,  he  had  shown  himself  in  that  letter  a  most 
faithful  servant  of  the  Crown  of  France."  ^  As  little 
did  he  deign  to  conceal  his  disbelief  of  the  pretended 
plot.  He  had  been  in  daily  communication  with  Mont- 
gomery, whom  Cathei'ine  especially  accused.  He  was 
able  to  assert  on  his  own  knowledge  that  Montgomery 
was  innocent  of  every  evil  intention  ;  and  he  insisted 
fearlessly  that,  were  the  proofs  against  him  and  others 
as  clear  as  they  were  futile,  they  ought  to  have  been 
arrested  and  tried. 

^  Burglilej'  to  Walsingham,  September  10;  Sir  T.  Smith  to  Walsingham, 
October  i:i:  l)i;,');'c-9. 
2  Walsingham  to  Sir  T.  Smith,  September  14:  Ibid. 


422  History  of  England.  [Ch.  xxiii. 

Had  the  massacre  been  really  intended,  the  Queen 
Mother  would  have  cared  little  for  the  world's  recep- 
tion of  it ;  but  as  the  thing  itself  had  been  sudden,  so 
it  found  her  unprepared,  and  left  her  uncertain  what 
to  do.  She  had  wished  merely  to  avoid  a  war  with 
Spain,  in  which  she  feared  EHzabeth  would  forsake 
her,  and  to  give  the  heads  of  the  two  factions  a  chance 
of  destroying  each  other ;  but  she  was  no  more  willing 
to  throw  herself  into  a  Catholic  crusade  than  into  a 
Protestant  war  of  liberty.  The  crown  of  Poland  was 
likely  to  be  vacant,  and  she  was  looking  to  the  German 
Princes  to  elect  the  Duke  of  Anjou.  She  showed  no 
resentment,  therefoi-e,  either  at  Elizabeth's  language 
or  at  Walsingham's :  she  took  no  advantage  of  the 
Pope's  approbation ;  she  endeavoured  to  divest  the 
massacre  of  all  religious  character,  and  to  represent  it 
as  a  political  misfortune  ;  and  she  seemed  to  expect 
that  the  Alencon  negotiation  mio-ht  o-o  on  as  if  nothinor 
had  happened.  But  Walsingham's  confidence  in  her 
or  Charles  was  shaken  to  the  ground.  The  Kino;  told 
him  that  he  could  justify  himself;  Walsingham  an- 
swered that,  under  every  conceivable  aspect,  his  con- 
duct was  without  excuse.  If  the  Huo-uenots  had  com- 
mitted  offences,  they  should  have  been  jmnished  with 
justice,  and  not  with  "  the  bloody  sword  of  murderers." 
"  The  King's  conscience,"  he  wrote  to  England, 
"  made  him  repute  all  those  of  the  religion  at  home 
and  abroad  his  enemies,  and  wish  none  of  them  alive  ; 
and,  if  he  might  himself  give  his  opinion  without  pre- 
sumption, he  thought  it  less  peril  to  live  with  them  as 
foes  than  as  friends."  ^ 

"  If  the  Admiral  and  his  friends  were  guilty,"  said 
Sir  Thomas  Smith,  "  why  were  they  not  apprehended 

1  Walsingham  to  the  Council,  September  24 :  Digges. 


1572.]  The  Reign  of  Elizabeth.  423 

and  tried  ?  So  is  the  journe'yei'  slain  by  the  robber,  so 
is  the  hen  by  the  fox,  so  the  hind  by  the  hon,  and 
Abel  by  Cain.  Grant  that  they  were  guilty  —  that 
they  dreamt  treason  in  their  sleep  —  what  did  the  in- 
nocent men,  women,  and  children  at  Lyons  ?  What 
did  the  sucking  children  and  their  mothers  at  Rouen, 
at  Caen,  at  Rochelle  ?     Will  God  sleep  ?  " 

There  were  some  who,  even  at  that  wild  moment, 
believed  Charles  to  have  been  innocent.  La  Mothe 
told  Leicester  privately  that  the  King  detested  the 
massacre,  and  would  soon  revenge  it ;  ^  and  Sir 
Thomas  Smith  said,  "  he  was  sorry  for  the  King, 
whom  he  esteemed  the  most  worthy,  the  most  faithful 
prince  in  the  world  ;  the  most  sincere  monarch  living."  ^ 

But  Charles,  at  all  events,  was  powerless.  His 
weak  intentions  were  drowned  in  wretched- 

,  .  1    •       1  •  1  October. 

ness  and  desperation,  and  m  limi  there  Avere 
no  grounds  for  Ensrland's  future  confidence ;  while 
Catherine  had  to  feel  also  that  she  had  not  been  more 
succes.sful  in  renewino-  the  o;ood-will  or  disarmino;  the 
suspicions  of  Spain.  Philip  himself  had  been  inclined 
at  first  to  see  in  what  had  happened  an  earnest  of  bet- 
ter things,  a  guarantee  for  the  future  of  Christendom, 
an  opening  for  a  possible  reconciliation  of  Catholic 
Europe,  cemented  by  a  marriage  between  Anjou  and 
the  Queen  of  Scots,  and  a  league  for  the  overthrow  of 
Elizabetli.^  But  Alva,  who  saw  deeper  into  the  \\\\- 
dercurrent  of  feeling,  trusted  France  no  more  than  be- 
fore, and  knew  better  than  liis  master  the  magnitude 
of  the  problem  wliicli  lie  liad  liimself  on  hand.  The 
catastrophe  had  relieved  him  of  a  combination  wliich  a 
few  weeks  previously  had  threatened  liim  with  certain 

1  I.f-ic(!st<T  to  WaNirif^hatn,  September  11:  Diggcs. 

2  Sir  ■]'.  Smith  to  Wulsiugliaiii,  Sui)tomber  20. 

8  Aguilon  to  Cayas,  November  G :  Tculet,  Vol.  V. 


424  History  of  England.  [Ch.  xxiii. 

destruction.  The  revolt  of  the  Provinces  which  that 
combination  had  caused  was  in  itself  sufficiently  for- 
midable, and,  if  supported  by  England,  might  still  be 
too  much  for  him.  It  was  no  time  for  leagues  against 
Elizabeth ;  it  was  no  time  to  assist  France  to  extricate 
itself  from  the  confusion  into  which  it  was  precipitated. 
France,  for  some  years  to  come,  would  be  unable  now 
to  meddle  with  its  neighbours ;  and  Alva  concluded, 
with  clear  practical  sense,  that  his  own  and  his  mas- 
ter's business  was  rather  to  take  advantage  of  the  ir- 
*lM3  ritation  against  France  -a«4  England,  to  prevent  the 
alliance  from  growing  up  again,  to  revive  the  Burgun- 
dian  league,  to  contrast  Spanish  honour  with  French 
perfidy,  and,  instead  of  attacking  Elizabeth,  tempt  her 
by  every  conciliatory  offer  to  desert  the  unlucky  Prince 
of  Orange. 

Thus  Catherine  found  that,  with  all  her  skill,  she 
could  not  blind  Europe.  She  had  forfeited  the  friend- 
ship of  England  ;  she  had  the  civil  war  again  upon 
her  hands  at  home,  and  she  had  gained  nothing  but 
the  Pope's  blessing.  The  Protestants  of  the  southwest 
Provinces,  rallying  from  their  first  panic,  were  every- 
where in  arms.  Rochelle  closed  its  gates,  and  the 
great  towns  of  Languedoc  and  Guienne  followed  their 
example.  Montgomery,  with  help  in  England,  re- 
established the  privateer  fleet  of  the  south  ;  and  the 
Queen  Mother,  bankrupt  in  money  and  credit,  had  to 
begin  the  old  work  over  again  wnth  twenty  Colignys 
in  the  field  for  one,  to  clamour  in  the  midst  of  the 
world's  scorn  that  the  massacre  was  an  accident,  and 
to  sue  in  the  very  dirt  to  Elizabeth  for  her  consent 
still  to  be  her  grandchild's  godmother,^  to  let  the  treaty 
stand,  and  to  entertain  AlenQon's  suit. 

1  The  Queen  Mother  and  the  King  to  La  Mothe  F(''nelon,  September  and 
October:  Depeches,  Vol.  VII- 


1572.]  Tlie  Reign  of  Elizaheth.  425 

But  her  efforts  were  for  the  most  part  useless. 
Walsingliam  was  not  recalled,  but  the  intercourse  be- 
tween the  two  Courts  was  reduced  to  cold  courtesy. 
The  Queen  Mother's  anxiety  Avas  construed  into  a  fur- 
ther step  in  the  conspiracy,  and  for  a  second  noces 
Galliques  to  be  eiiacted  in  England. 

Confidence  in  France  was  gone,  and  English  states- 
men had  now  to  decide  whether  they  should  maintain 
or  desert  the  Netherlands.  It  was  seen  that  tliey  at 
first  thought  the  alternative  would  not  be  offered  them  ; 
that  they  would  have  war  immediately  on  their  hands 
with  France  and  Spain  combined.  But  they  soon  per- 
ceived that  of  this  there  was  at  least  no  immediate 
danger ;  while  the  prospects  of  Orange  were  certainly 
not  favourable  enough  to  tempt  Elizabeth  unnecessa- 
rily to  his  side.  On  the  news  of  the  massacre,  his 
army  had  at  once  dissolved.  He  had  himself  retired 
into  Holland,  and  Count  Louis  capitulated  in  Mons 
when  he  found  that  no  relief  could  reach  him  from  any 
quarter.  The  garrison  was  at  its  last  extremity,  and 
in  a  few  more  days  must  have  surrendered  uncondi- 
tionally. To  his  own  and  the  world's  surprise,  the 
Duke  of  Alva  consented  to  terms  rarely  granted  to 
insurgents  by  the  most  lenient  commander.  The 
Huo-uenot  troops  marched  out  with  the  honours  of 
war,  to  be  cut  to  pieces  by  their  own  countrymen 
when  the}^  crossed  the  French  frontier ;  and  Count 
Louis  himself,  after  being  received  with  marked  dis- 
tinction in  the  Spanish  camp,  was  permitted  to  go 
where  he  pleased. 

The  Duke  apologised  to  Philip  for  his  unusual  clem- 
ency, saying  simply  tliat  he  had  reasons  for  it,  on 
which  he  would  not  cjilate.  It  became  immediately 
evident  that  he  desired  to  create  a  favourable  impres- 


426  History  of  England.  [Ch.  xxiii. 

sion  upon  England.  Ferocity  at  that  particular  mo- 
ment would  have  exasperated  the  passions  of  the  peo- 
ple beyond  control,  while  forbearance  would  contrast 
with  the  atrocities  of  Paris,  and  give  Elizabeth  an  ex- 
cuse, of  which  he  believed  that  she  would  avail  her- 
self, for  leaving  the  Netherlands  to  their  natural  mas- 
ter. Antonio  de  Guaras  supplied  the  Duke  daily  with 
the  most  minute  account  of  the  English  movements, 
and  he  had  soon  reason  to  cono-ratulate  himself  on  his 
prudence.  The  old  friends  of  the  Spanish  alliance 
were  busy  again.  De  Guaras  spent  money  freely, 
giving  as  much  as  ten  thousand  crowns  to  some  one 
unnamed  who  had  influence  with  the  Queen ;  and  he 
ascertained  in  a  little  while  that  the  reinforcements 
which  were  to  have  gone  to  Gilbert  were  suspended, 
that  Gresham's  departure  had  been  counter-ordered, 
that  money  had  been  sent  the  Prince,  but  less  than 
was  originally  intended ;  and  that  the  Government 
was  watching  only  to  see  w^hat  became  of  his  enter- 
prise. If  he  failed  this  time,  England  would  leave 
him  to  his  fate,  and  accept  the  friendship  which  Alva 
was  so  unexpectedly  offering.^ 

The  Spanish  Government  left  no  stone  unturned  to 
encourao;e  the  yieldino;  humour.     Submitting 

November.  .    .  ... 

to  the  opinion  of  Alva,  Philip  himself  sued 
to  the  Queen  for  a  reconciliation,  in  terms  which  to 
the  jealousy  of  the  French  Ambassador  appeared  be- 

1  "  Considerando  lo  que  ha  pasado  en  Francia  todos  a  una  raano  tratan 
de  la  amistad  de  la  casa  de  Borgofia;  y  tenga  Y^  Excellencia  por  cierto  que 
estan  la  Reyna  y  su  consejo  como  rendidos,  y  que  desean  la  amistad  mas 
que  jamas.  Aqui  tenian  seis  naos  y  ocho  mill  hombres  prestos  levantados 
en  la  costa,  para  si  el  de  Orange  prevalesceria  como  he  escripto,  y  en  lugar 
del  dicho  Gresham  enviaron  en  dinero  con  correos  pasadas  de  20  mill  libras 
para  que  el  de  Orange  como  se  dice  por  falta  del  dinero  no  dexase  de  exe- 
cutar,  poro  de  presente  estan  rendidos  como  digo."  —  De  Guaras  to  Alva, 
October  6 :  MS.  Simancas. 


1572.]  The  Beign  of  Elizabeth.  427 

neatli  the  dignity  of  so  great  a  Prince.^  The  Duke, 
referring  with  gracious  irony  to  St.  Bartholomew,  ob- 
served that  she  had  gained  little  by  exchanging  the 
friendship  of  Spain  for  that  of  France.  The  promot- 
ers of  the  Blood  Council  affected  horror  at  the  massa- 
cre at  Paris,  and  professed  an  ardent  desire  for  the 
restoration  "  of  the  ancient  amity  between  the  Crown 
of  England  and  the  House  of  Burgundy."  ^ 

The  Prince's  cause  after  the  breaking  up  of  his 
army  appeared  to  be  irretrievably  lost.  N^o  sane  pol- 
itician could  believe  that  a  few  towns,  a  few  marshy 
islands,  and  a  population  to  be  counted  by  thousands, 
could  resist  successfully  the  first  military  Power  in 
the  world.  It  mi^ht  be  noble  to  rush  forward  in 
defence  of  liberty.  If  a  struggle  for  life  and  death 
became  inevitable,  Eno-land  miirht  have  to  stake  her 
fortunes  on  the  chance,  and  sink  or  swim  with  the  re- 
volted Provinces ;  but  Elizabeth  and  her  Ministers 
might  well  doubt  whether  thev  ouMit  to  venture  need- 
lessly  so  tremendous  a  risk  in  a  quarrel  which  was  but 
half  their  own.  It  mi<rht  be  that,  lookino;  to  the  broad 
interests  of  the  Reformation,  Eno;land  was  better  ful- 
filling  her  duty  by  maintaining  her  own  freedom,  than 
by  undertaking  to  fight  the  battles  of  every  country 
with  whose  cause  she  sympathized. 

1  "  Le  Roy  d'Espaigne  luy  a  escript  une  lettre  fort  pleyne  d'affection  et 
d'offres,  et  d'une  quasi  soubmission,  qui  serable  ne  convenir  gu^res,  ny  h 
la  grandeur  d'uii  tel  prince,  ni  a  la  recordation  des  injures  qu'il  a  re^ue. 
Tant  _v  a  qu'en  la  dicte  lettre  apres  beaucoup  de  belles  et  bonnes  jiaroles  il 
insiste  au  renouv-ellement  des  anciens  traictt'-s  et  do  I'ancienne  confederation 
d'entre  ceste  couronne  et  la  mayson  de  Bourgoigne  et  qu'il  est  prest  de  la 
confirmer  et  la  jurer  de  nouveau."  —  La  Mothe  Fenelon  to  the  King, 
November  15:  iJepfiches,  Vol.  V. 

2  to   Sir  William  I'itzwilliam,  November  12,  1572:  ^fSS.  Ireland. 

I  have  not  discovered  Alva's  original  letter,  but  it  is  fully  described  by 
Fitzwilliam's  correspondent. 


428  Histori/  of  England.  [Ch.  xxiii. 

Could  Eno-land  and  France  have  understood  and 
trusted  each  other  in  the  past  summer,  then,  indeed, 
the  face  of  Europe  might  have  been  changed ;  but  the 
characters  of  the  sovereigns  of  the  two  countries,  and 
the  dispositions  of  their  subjects,  were  ahke  unfavoura- 
ble. Each  Government  had  with  too  much  justice 
suspected  the  sincerity  of  the  other.  France  had  seen 
Elizabeth  corresponding  with  Alva  in  the  midst  of  the 
most  opposite  professions,  and  the  catastrophe  of  Au- 
gust had  justified  the  misgivings  all  along  entertained 
by  the  opponents  of  the  French  alliance.  The  oppor- 
tunity, at  all  events,  had  now  passed.  It  remained 
for  Elizabeth  to  do  the  best  that  she  could  for  her  sub- 
jects and  herself,  and  her  manifest  interest  pointed  to 
the  prudence  of  deserting  the  Low  Countries  and  ac- 
cepting Philip's  offered  friendship.  If  she  entertained 
any  doubts  about  it,  she  must  have  been  fortified  in 
her  conclusions  by  the  consternation  which  was  pro- 
duced amono;  the  Catholics.  At  the  moment  when 
the  massacre  at  Paris  seemed  to  have  opened  the  way 
to  their  immediate  triumph,  the  refugees  and  the 
fi-iends  of  Mary  Stuart  found  their  hopes  utterly 
blighted.  With  the  Pope  at  their  back,  and  European 
fanaticism  enthusiastic  to  take  arms  in  their  cause,  they 
found  their  movements  paralyzed  ;  and  if  the  Protes- 
tants on  one  side  reproached  Elizabeth  for  abandoning 
the  Prince,  the  reconciliation  of  Philip  with  an  excom- 
municated sovereion  was  more  terrible  and  more  de- 
structive  to  the  Catholics. 

For  a  long  time  they  could  not  believe  their  senses, 
and  they  continued  to  besiege  the  Court  of  Madrid 
with  plans  for  the  conquest  of  England,  and  with  re- 
proaches for  Alva's  coldness  in  executing  them.  Doc- 
tor Sanders,  in   the   name  of  the   Louvaine  exiles,  re- 


1572.]  The  Reign  of  Elizabeth.  429 

pealed  in  the  usual  language  that  England  was  the 
cause  of  the  Netherlands'  rebellion,  and  that  till  Eng- 
land was  subdued,  the  rebellion  would  never  be  put 
down.  He  drew  a  picture  of  the  great  English  Cath- 
olic party  —  one  in  heart,  one  in  creed,  and  one  in 
feeling,  while  the  heretics  were  split  into  a  hundred 
sects  —  Lutherans,  Calvinists,  Anabaptists,  Puritans, 
hating  each  other,  distrusting  the  Queen,  and  looking 
with  dread  to  what  would  follow  on  her  death.  He 
sketched  Elizabeth  as  she  was  represented  in  the  Cath- 
olic imao-ination  —  a  woman  detested  for  her  avarice, 
abhorred  for  the  infamy  of  her  life  ;  setting  herself  up 
above  all  that  was  called  God  ;  and  with  her  married 
clergy  and  her  shameless  favourite  who  had  murdered 
his  wife  at  her  side,  pretending  to  be  the  Head  of  the 
Church  of  Christ.  Don  John  of  Austria,  he  said, 
need  but  land  alone  in  an  open  boat  upon  the  English 
shore,  to  be  welcomed  as  a  deliverer.  The  heretics, 
made  effeminate  by  vice  and  luxury,  would  fly  at  the 
first  shot,  and  God  would  be  on  his  side.i  "  The 
King,"  wrote  one  of  Sanders's  companions,  "  should 
remember  his  honour,  and  not  allow  France  to  take 
his  ])lace  as  the  champion  of  the  Holy  See  —  France, 
which  by  its  exploit  of  August,  had  gained  immortal 
glory  with  the  good  throughout  the  world."  ^ 

1  Doctor  Sanders  to  Philip  II.,  1572 ;  Parecer  acerca  las  cosas  de  Irlanda 
y  Inglaterra,  October  11,1572;  Informacion  dada  por  Don  Guerau,  Novem- 
ber, 1572 :  MS.  Simnncns. 

2  "Es  increible  quanta  honray  fama  este  solo  hecho  del  Frances  el  ve- 
rano  pasado  le  ha  f;anado  por  todo,  y  quanta  e.speran(,'a  ahora  todos  loa 
buenos  de  todas  las  naciones  ticnen  en  el.  I'or  tanto  conviene  cierto  nuicho 
que  el  Rey  Catolico  sobre  todas  las  cosas  hiciese  algo  para  resuscitar  su 

nombre  en  estas  partes  occidentales  del  mundo." to  the  Duchess  of 

Feria:  MS.  Ibid.  From  the  rest  of  the  letter  the  -writer  appears  clearly 
to  have  been  one  of  the  English  in  the  Low  Countries,  hut  cannot  be 
identified  more  closely.  It  is  wortli  obser.-ing  that  tiie  only  emphatic  and 
unqualified  admirers  of  the  massacre  were  the  Pope  and  the  English 
Catholics  at  Louvaine. 


430  History  of  England.  [Ch.  xxiii. 

In  England  too,  among  the  Protestants,  there  was 
some  dissatisfaction.  There  was  many  a  gallant  gen- 
tleman who  would  have  rather  died  in  fighting  Span- 
iards than  have  shaken  hands  with  the  Duke  of  Alva, 
especially  when  Alva,  having  been  reproached  for  his 
gentleness  at  Mons,  began  to  show  himself  again  in  his 
true  colours.  In  return  for  the  murder  of  the  monks 
at  Mechlin,  he  gave  up  the  town  to  be  sacked  by  the 
Spanish  soldiers,  and  for  three  days  it  was  a  scene  of 
horrors  which  sent  a  shudder  throucfh  Northern  Eu- 
rope.  One  day,  De  Guaras  said  the  London  people 
looked  on  him  as  their  best  friend,  and  the  next,  they 
were  ready  to  stone  him.  The  sack  of  IMechlin  re- 
vived the  terror  that  the  Protestants  would  be  massa- 
cred in  detail  all  over  Europe,  and  at  the  end  of  Octo- 
ber a  sermon  was  preached  at  St.  Paul's  to  an  enor- 
mous crowd,  inflaming  the  passions  of  the  people, 
appealing  to  Papists  as  well  as  Protestants  to  be  true 
to  their  country,  and  threatening  both  alike  with 
Philip's  galleys. 1 

But  both  in  Spain  and  in  England  temperate  coun- 
sels prevailed.  Philip  could  not  without  a  pang  submit 
to  have  his  piety  suspected,  but  he  allowed  himself  to 
be  guided  by  Alva  ;  while  pressing  danger  in  Ireland, 
of  which  the  reader  will  presently  hear,  the  deeper 
detestation  of  France,  the  interests  of  commerce,  the 
despair  of  the  Prince's  success,  and  the  sincerity  of 
Spain  in  desiring  a  reconciliation,  of  which  Alva's  cor- 
respondence leaves  no  kind  of  doubt,  continued  to  de- 
termine the  policv  of  Elizabeth  and  her  cabinet.  Sir 
Humfrey  Gilbert  was  recalled  in  earnest,  and  the  pros- 

1  "  Vo.«otros  Papistas  tened  fuerte  con  nosotros  Protestantes,  porque  de 
otra  manera  vosotros  y  nosotros  iremos  a  remar  en  las  galeras  del  Key 
Felipe.  —  "  De  Guaras  to  Alva,  October  28:  MS.  Simancas. 


1572.]  The  Reign  of  Elizabeth.  431 

pect  of  a  llboral  reconstruction  of  Europe  liaving  failed 
on  the  one  hand,  and  PhiHp  on  the  other  liaving  shown 
so  great  a  disregard  of  the  Pope  as  to  be  willing  to  re- 
new his  relations  with  England,  Lord  Burghley  consid- 
ered that  it  would  be  well  if  by  some  other  means  the 
great  questions  of  the  time  could  be  amicably  composed. 
In  a  remarkable  conversation  with  De  Guaras  he  re- 
newed the  proposals  made  long  before  by  Henry  VIII. 
to  Philip's  father.  "  He  said  that  if  the  King  of  Spain 
would  consent  to  some  truly  general  council  in  which 
all  opinions  could  be  fairly  represented,  and  if  the 
practical  abuses  of  the  Holy  See  could  be  reformed, 
neither  EnMand  nor  Elizabeth  would  refuse  to  return 
to  communion  with  Christendom.  His  mistress  was 
neither  Calvinist  nor  Huguenot,  and  she  believed  as 
much  as  Philip  in  the  need  of  authority  in  the  Church. 
The  general  interests  of  the  world  required  reconcil- 
iation and  peace,  for  the  sake  of  which  all  pai'ties 
ought  to  be  ready  to  make  sacrifices  ;  and  to  make  a 
beginning,  the  Queen  would  feel  herself  happy  if  the 
King  of  Spain  would  allow  her  to  mediate  between  the 
Crown  of  Spain  and  the  Prince  of  Orange. ^  England, 
Lord  Burghley  said,  was  willing  to  restore  the  treasure 
which  had  been  the  original  cause  of  the  quarrel,  to 
put  down  piracy  and  privateering,  and  to  discontinue 
the  protection  hitherto  afforded  to  the  King  of  Spain's 
revolted  subjects.  A  commission  might  sit  to  deter- 
mine the  outstanding  claims  of  Spain  and  England  one 
upon  the  other  ;  and  as  soon  as  they  were  settled,  the 
ancient  leao;ue  could  be  renewed.  The  Catholic  King 
would  be  exi)ected  to  forbid  the  Eno-lish  refuirees  to  re- 
side  any  longer  in  his  dominions,  and  pending  the 
general  settlement  of  religion,  English  merchants  and 

1  De  Guaras  to  Alva,  October  12  and  November  4:  MS.  Simnncas. 


432  History  of  England.  [Ch.  xxiii. 

sailors  trading  to  Spain  were  not  to  be  molested  by  tbe 
Inquisition  as  long  as  they  complied  in  public  with  the 
laws/' 
The  Duke  of  Alva,  had  he  been  left  to  his  own  judg- 
ment, would  have  accepted  these  conditions 
without  scruple  or  hesitation.  The  Holland- 
ers were  preparing  for  a  desperate  resistance,  and  the 
Spanish  commander  estimated  their  ability  to  hold 
their  ground  against  him  considerably  higher  than 
Elizabeth  or  Burghley.  But,  great  as  his  powers  were, 
he  dared  not  conclude  a  treaty  on  his  own  authority, 
which  would  close  Spain  and  the  Low  Countries  against 
the  English  Catholics.  To  himself  they  had  been  only 
a  source  of  irritation  and  trouble,  but  they  were  pen- 
sioners and  favourites  of  his  master  ;  and,  before  he 
could  reply,  he  had  to  refer  for  instructions  to  Philip. 
The  States- General  of  Holland  made  use  of  the  delay 
to  send  a  deputation  to  Elizabeth  to  entreat  her  not 
to  desert  them.  She  paused  upon  her  answer,  till 
Philip  had  decided  ;  and,  to  show  that  she  was  not 
afraid,  the  English  fleet  continued  rigorously  to  scour 
the  Channel,  and  arrest  every  ship  on  its  Avay  from 
Spain  to  Flanders.  But  the  bolder  the  front  which  she 
maintained,  the  more  eager  was  Alva  for  peace  with 
her,  the  more  he  pressed  his  master  not  to  hesitate  in 
compliance.  His  army  had  sat  down  before  Haarlem 
after  the  sack  of  Mechlin.  He  found  the  town  de- 
fended with  a  skill  which  the  ablest  engineers  and  the 
best  trained  troops  in  the  world  could  not  have  ex- 
ceeded. He  was  losing  his  men  by  thousands  in  a 
winter  siege,  and  he  said  that  if  England  interposed 
the  rebellion  would  never  be  suppressed.^ 

Philip's  difficulties  were  dreadful  ;  to  come  to  terms 

1  Alva  to  Philip,  January  17 :   Cwrespondence,  Vol.  II. 


1572.]  TJie  Reign  of  Elizabeth.  433 

at  all  -with  a  Power  which  had  treated  him  with  such 
insolence  was  more  than  humiliating.  To  consent  to 
hmit  the  power  of  the  Inquisition,  and  to  expel  from 
his  dominions  those  English  friends  who  had  been  ex- 
iled  for  their  faithfulness  to  the  Church,  was  more  than 
he  could  bear.  His  condition  was  pitiable.  When  he 
learnt  that  the  English  Catholics  were  now  looking  to 
France  rather  than  to  him  to  be  their  champion,  he 
covered  the  margins  of  his  despatches  with  interjections 
and  lamentations  ;  and  the  refugees  plied  him  with  com- 
plaints and  reproaches,  which  cut  the  deeper  because 
they  were  moderately  urged.  One  of  the  party  at 
Louvaine,  whose  name  does  not  appear,  wrote  a  re- 
markable letter  to  the  Duchess  of  Feria,  which  was 
intended  for  Philip's  eyes. 

"Although,"  so  it  ran,  "  your  Grace's  words  to  us  are 
always  consolatory,  yet  we  are  dispirited  by  the  long 
delay,  and  by  seeing  that  nothing  is  done  for  us.  We 
are  driven  to  fear  that  we  are  deserted,  and,  against 
our  natural  inclinations,  we  turn  our  eyes  towards  the 
French,  in  whom  alone  we  see  the  necessary  courage, 
energy,  spirit,  and  resolution.  Your  Grace  may  be  as- 
sured that  we  neglect  no  exertions  to  keep  our  people 
loyal  to  the  Crown  of  Spain ;  but,  in  our  own  defence, 
and  in  return  for  the  confidence  which  his  Majesty 
places  in  us,  we  beseech  your  Grace  to  explain  to  him 
that  we  shall  be  powerless,  if  he  allows  France  to  fore- 
stall him  in  moving  on  our  behalf.  All  the  world  sees 
that  conscience,  duty,  loyalty,  justice,  even  gratitude, 
will  then  oblige  us  to  go  with  the  rest,  and  in  the  ser- 
vice of  God  and  of  our  lawful  sovereign  (the  Queen 
of  Scots),  accept  the  assistance  of  the  first  jjrince  who 
will  espouse  our  cause. 

"  The  King  can  receive  no  more  from  us  than  we 

VOL.  X.  28 


434  History  of  England.  [Ch.  xxiii. 

possess.  Our  hearty  desire  is  to  be  his  in  all  sincerity, 
and,  without  doubt,  had  our  powers  equalled  our  good- 
will, the  position  both  of  England  and  Scotland  towards 
him  w^ould  have  been  now  far  different  from  what  it  is. 
"  You  can  hardly  imagine  the  honour  and  glory  Avhich 
the  French  have  gained  for  themselves  by  their  exploit 
last  summer.  The  good  all  the  world  over  now  look 
to  them.  And  it  is  the  more  necessary  that  the  Cath- 
olic King  should  exert  himself  to  retrieve  his  name  and 
credit.  The  French,  as  he  well  knows,  are  quick  to 
resolve  and  swift  to  execute.  Their  influence  at  pres- 
ent is  immense,  both  with  the  Holy  See  and  with  the 
English  Catholics. 1  If  they  undertake  the  reformation 
of  our  country,  they  will  win  the  admiration  not  only 
of  the  English,  but  of  all  people  everywhere  who  fa- 
vour the  cause  of  religion.  When  they  have  begun 
the  work,  it  will  be  small  honour  to  the  Catholic  King 
to  follow  suit  with  them  ;  and,  if  he  is  prudent,  he  will 
not  leave  the  entire  field  for  them  to  occupy.  After 
all  the  hopes  which,  for  fourteen  years,  have  been  fixed 
upon  his  Majesty,  it  will  be  strange  indeed  to  see  an- 
other step  in  and  do  the  w^ork,  and  that  other  one  from 
whom,  four  months  ago,  no  one  expected  anything. 
In  justice  and  reason,  the  Queen  of  Scots  and  her 
subjects  will  be  most  obliged  to  those  who  are  the  first 
to  help  them.  The  French  Cardinals  at  Rome  are 
now  certain  that  their  own  people  will  take  the  initia- 
tive, and  they  count  on  securing  the  w^hole  advantage  to 
themselves.  For  our  own  part,  we  can  but  hope  that 
his  Cathohc  Majesty  will  forestall  them,  for  his  inter- 
est's sake  as  much  as  for  his  honour. 

1  "  Bien  entiende  su  Magd  las  resoluciones  pressuroras  y  las  executiones 
caJef a  aJaxo  naturalmente  in  la  nacion  Fran<;esa;  su  reputacion  ahora  es 
grande  con  la  Sede  Apostolica,  y  su  credito  grande  con  todos  los  Catolicos 
de  miestra  nacion." 


1572.]  TJie  Reign  of  Elizabeth.  435 

"  The  pretended  Queen  of  England  is  endeavouring 
to  place  the  Government  of  Scotland  in  the  hands  of 
the  Earl  of  Morton,  who  murdei*ed  the  Secretarj^  and 
the  late  Kino;.  Tlirough  his  means,  Cecil  looks  to  get 
possession  of  the  Prince  ;  and  not  Cecil,  but  the  other,^ 
will  make  an  end  of  the  good  Queen.  This  once  done, 
the  French  will  carry  all  before  them.  As  long  as  she 
lives,  his  Majesty  can  turn  the  tables  on  them,  but  he 
Avill  lose  his  advantage  when  she  is  dead,  unless  he  has 
the  Prince  in  his  hands,  where  the  Queen,  his  mother, 
desires  to  see  him.  She  knows  that  France  will  not 
allow  Scotland  and  England  to  be  under  one  crown, 
unless  she  marries  the  Duke  of  Anjou  ;  and  for  this 
reason  she  prefers  the  Catholic  King.  If,  however, 
the  Prince  dies,  or  is  carried  to  England,  she  will  then, 
without  doubt,  be  put  to  death,  and  Spain  will  be  with- 
out a  party  in  the  whole  Island. 

"  Inform  his  Majesty  of  the  commissioners  sent  to 
England  by  the  States.  We  are  told  that  the  pre- 
tended Queen  has  promised  to  supply  funds  for  six 
thousand  men  in  the  coming  spring.  If  it  be  so,  you 
can  force  his  Majesty  to  see  the  profound  cunning  with 
which  she  is  acting.  She  pretends  to  be  unresolved 
upon  her  answer,  when  she  lias  already  consented  to 
what  the  States  ask  of  her  :  while  she  will  say  in  public 
that  she  can  take  no  part  against  her  dear  brother  the 
King  of  Spain  ;  she  will  entertain  the  envoy  of  the 
Duke  of  Alva  with  conspicuous  courtesy  ;  and  she 
will  heap  favours  on  him,  that  he  may  stand  her  friend 
at  Brussels."  2 

The  fears  and  jealousies  which  divided  Catholic 
Europe  are  nowhere  better  expressed  than  in  this  let- 

1  "  El  otro  que  Cecil."    I  suppose  this  means  Morton. 

2  to  the  Duchess  of  Feria,  January  23,  1573. 


436  History  of  England.  [Ch.  xxiii. 

ter.  The  writer  believed  —  or,  at  any  rate,  he  wished 
Philip  to  believe  —  that  Elizabeth  was  tottering  to  her 
fall ;  and,  being  a  warm  friend  of  Spain,  he  affected 
to  dread  lest  the  French  should  step  in  and  sweep 
away  the  Pope's  blessing,  the  glory,  and  the  prize. 
The  arguments  were  well  calculated  to  work  on  the 
King  of  Spain  ;  but,  unfortunately,  the  Duke  of  Alva's 
views  of  the  situation  were  totally  different.  In  the 
first  place,  he  disbelieved  in  the  completeness  of  the 
Catholic  revolution  in  France.  He  knew  that  the 
Queen  Mother  was  working  day  and  night  to  recover 
Elizabeth's  confidence.  When  a  French  Princess  was 
born  in  October,  she  solicited  her  so  earnestly  to  fulfil 
her  promise  to  be  the  child's  godmother,  that  Elizabeth 
had  at  last  consented ;  and  the  Earl  of  Worcester 
went  to  represent  her  at  the  ceremony.  That  an  Eng- 
lish nobleman  —  one,  too,  of  notoriously  CathoKc  ten- 
dencies —  should  eo  in  state  to  Paris  so  soon  after  the 
massacre,  was  considered  by  the  Protestants  a  hideous 
scandal  —  so  hideous,  indeed,  that  the  Earl  was  at- 
tacked by  a  privateer  midway  between  Dover  and 
Calais.  Four  of  his  men  were  killed,  and  seven  others 
wounded.^  But  to  Alva  the  continuance  of  any  kind 
of  friendly  relations  was  alarming.  He  was  not  sat- 
isfied that  the  projects  of  France  on  Flanders  might 
not  still  be  revived.  Even  the  Alen^on  marriage  did 
not  yet  seem  wholly  impossible.  Elizabeth  still  talked 
of  it,  and    Burghley  still    wished   it;^     while,  so   far 

1  The  attack  was  believed  in  London  to  have  been  instigated  by  some  of 
the  English  bishops.  A  Spanish  agent  writes:  "Creese  que  fu^portrato 
de  Ids  Obispos  de  Inglaterra  que  deseaban  que  la  Reyna  no  enviase  person- 
age al  dicho  bautismo." — Relacion  de  las  Cartas  de  Antonio  Foga^a  a 
Cayas,  Enero  1573 :  MS.  Simancas. 

2  Wherever  documents  survive,  which  reveal  what  was  passing  imder 
the  surface,  we  find  everywhere  in  Europe  organisations  of  complex 
treachery.    At  the  end  of  1572  a  person  appeared  in  London  professing  to 


1572.]  The  Reign  of  Elizabeth.  437 

from  believing  in  the  resources  of  the  English  Catho- 
lies,  he   felt    nothing  for  them   but  increasing  repug- 

come  from  tlie  Due  d'Alen^on,  with  a  private  message  that  the  Duke  de- 
tested the  atrocities  committed  by  his  mother  and  brother,  that  he  wished 
to  escape  to  England,  and  afterwards,  with  the  Queen's  assistance,  to  place 
himself  at  the  head  of  the  Huguenots ;  when,  by  doing  service  to  the  good 
cause,  he  hoped  to  win  his  way  to  her  hand. 

The  following  letter,  which  was  apparently  one  of  a  series,  will  explain 
the  principal  points  of  the  transaction.  The  original  is  among  Burgliley's 
papers  at  Hatfield.  How  it  fell  into  English  hands  is  unexplained.  Don 
Lucidor  is  the  Dae  d'Alen^on,  Madame  de  Lisle  is  Elizabeth :  — 

"  London,  December,  1572. 
"  A  Don  Lucidor. 

"  il.  Lucidor,  —  This  will  be  the  last  of  my  letters.  You  will  see  by  it 
that  after  having  carefully  looked  into  the  state  of  things  liere,  I  conclude, 
as  the  sum  and  result  of  all  that  I  have  seen  and  heard  since  my  arrival, 
that  your  best  course  will  be  to  follow  your  first  impulse  and  come  over.  I 
am  confident  that  when  j'ou  are  once  here,  your  afi'airs  will  go  as  you 
desire.  You  must  understand  in  the  first  place  that  Madame  de  Lisle's 
coldness  arose  from  the  distrust  which  she  had  been  taught  to  feel  of  my- 
self. She  could  not  wisely  have  promised  anything  in  a  matter  of  such 
consequence  on  the  credit  of  a  letter  merely  signed  by  your  hand.  Sec- 
ondly, having  seen  their  neighbour's  house  so  lately  on  fire,  they  fear  that 
the  massacre  may  be  a  menace  to  all  Europe,  that  there  will  be  confu- 
sion and  wars  everywhere,  and  that  those  who  wear  the  same  livery  as 
the  late  victims  should  be  on  their  guard  against  a  similar  fate.  They  are 
wise  enough  to  see  the  advantage  of  your  proposal.  While  you  are  in  this 
country  you  will  be  a  centre  round  which  all  the  French  will  be  constrained 
to  rally  who  would  defend  themselves  against  the  enemies  of  the  Gospel. 
Consider,  then,  whether  they  have  not  good  cause  to  wish  Don  Lucidor 
here.    They  would  give  their  lives  and  fortunes  to  keep  you. 

"  Moreover,  so  far  as  I  can  learn  from  Madame  de  Lisle's  words,  there  is 
no  prince  in  the  world  whom,  if  she  marry,  she  would  prefer  to  yourself; 
and  that  she  does  intend  to  marry  I  have  already  assured  you.  When  she 
.tpoke  to  me  about  you  she  said,  with  a  vehemence  of  affection,  that  there 
was  nothing  in  her  power  which  she  would  not  do  to  help  you.  She  would 
risk  everj-thing  sooner  than  allow  harm  to  befall  one  who  might  one  day 
stand  in  so  close  a  relation  towards  her.  She  would  not  use  the  precise 
words  which  you  desire,  but  her  eyes  seemed  to  say  to  me,  '  Bid  your  friend 
come  and  despair  of  nothing.  He,  if  anyone,  shall  be  my  husband.'  Do 
then  as  you  proposed,  and  come.  She  desires  to  marry  you,  but  nothing 
will  be  done  through  Madame  la  Serpente  (the  Queen  Mother);  you  can 
imagine  whv;  all  advances  from  that  quarter  are  suspect,  because  of  the 
massacre.     They  are  taken  as  an  invitation  to  a  second  Paris  banquet. 

"  Separate  yourself  from  the  Court.  Wliile  you  remain  there  no  one 
here  will  speak  for  you.    Let  them  see  that  you  have  taken  the  bit  in  your 


438  History  of  England.  [Ch.  xxiii. 

nance, ^  and,  with  a  coldness  amounting  almost  to  con- 
tempt, he  discussed  and  pulled  to  pieces  the  objections 
of  Philip  to  renewing  his  intercourse  with  the  Queen. 
"  The  King,"  he  said,  "  appeared  to  fear  that,  treaty 

teeth,  that  you  will  have  no  more  to  do  with  the  tyrants.  All  will  then  go 
well.  Take  up  the  cause  of  the  Gospel,  and  England  will  stand  by  you, 
and  so  will  your  noble  countrymen. 

"  To  the  day  of  the  massacre  Madame  de  Lisle  was  all  that  was  favour- 
able. She  changed  and  cooled  afterwards ;  nor  has  she  anyone  now  to  ad- 
vise her  to  think  of  you.  Convince  her  of  your  innocence;  show  that  you 
will  be  the  protector  of  the  Protestants,  and  they  will  pray  you  then  to  come 
to  them,  and  you  will  give  the  law  to  Christendom.  Germany  is  arming. 
The  English  are  volunteering  to  serve  with  the  Huguenots.  The  living 
God  calls  you.  Fear  not  to  fall  between  two  stools,  le  cul  a  ierre.  There 
is  nothing  for  you  to  fear.  If  a  poor  Prince  of  Orange  and  a  Count  Louis 
have  achieved  so  much,  what  may  not  be  done  hy  a  Due  d'Alen^on,  a  son 
and  brother  of  a  King?  who  leaves  his  own  country  because  he  will  not  be 
an  accomplice  in  the  most  unworthy  deed,  the  most  vile  and  nionslrous 
atrocity,  of  which  the  annals  of  the  world  contain  a  record,"  &c. 

The  letter  is  in  French,  the  writer  unknown.  Evidently  he  had  been 
really  in  England,  and  had  reallj'  talked  with  the  Queen.  It  appears  from 
a  letter  of  Leicester's  to  Walsingliam  of  the  8th  of  .January',  that  "the 
Queen  was  loath  to  discredit  Alenpon,  and  was  borne  in  hand  that  her  love 
for  him  was  great."  —  Digges.  Walsingham,  however,  thought  that  "  it 
was  a  dangerous  practice  not  to  be  meddled  with."  And  Burghley  took 
the  same  view.  On  the  desirableness  of  the  marriage  generally,  however, 
he  remained  of  his  old  opinion.  Writing  on  the  20th  of  March,  he  said 
that  France  would  certainly  attack  England  when  its  own  troubles  were 
composed,  but  that  the  Queen  would  adhere  to  the  league  till  France  broke 
it.  "  As  to  the  marriage,"  he  went  on,  "  I  see  the  imminent  peril  to  the 
State,  the  succession  to  the  crown  so  manifestly  prejudicial  to  the  state  of 
religion  that  I  cannot  but  persist  in  seeking  marriage  for  her  Majesty,  and 
finding  no  way  that  is  liking  to  her  but  this  with  the  Duke,  I  force  myself 
to  pursue  it  with  desire."  — MBS.  France,  Rolls  House. 

1  Lord  Westmoreland  continued  to  say  that  if  Alva  would  land  in  North- 
umberland he  would  himself  undertake  that  ten  thousand  men  would  join 
him.  Alva's  character  is  curiously  marked  in  a  conversation  on  the  subject 
which  another  English  gentleman,  whom  he  consulted,  reported  to  Cecil:  — 
"  His  Excellency  asked  me,"  says  this  person,  "  what  assurance  he  might 
have  that  my  Lord  of  Westmoreland  would  perform  what  he  said.  I  told 
his  Excellency  that  his  word  was  the  word  of  a  nobleman:  and  his  Excel- 
lency's answer  to  me  was  that  his  word  was  the  word  of  a  nobleman  out  of 
his  country,  and  not  like  his  word  who  is  a  nobleman  in  his  countrj'  and  in 
favour  with  his  Prince ;  which  was  as  profound  a  sentence  as  ever  I  heard.'* 
Ed.  Woodshaw  to  Burghley,  1573:  MSS.  Flanders. 


1572.]  The  Reign  of  Mizabeth.  439 

or  no  treaty,  English  pirates  would  still  prey  on  Span- 
ish commerce,  and  English  Protestants  would  send 
help  to  the  Prince  of  Orange.  It  might  be  so.  But 
connivance  was  less  dangerous  than  open  and  avowed 
support.  His  Majesty  was  afraid  of  discouraging  the 
English  Catholics.  But  if,  for  the  sake  of  the  English 
Catholics,  he  was  to  lose  the  Low  Countries,  not  much 
would  be  gained  to  the  Catholic  cause  ;  and,  after  all, 
the  treaty  was  no  such  considerable  thing,  nor  would 
there  be  any  necessity  for  observing  it  w^ith  particular 
strictness.  Kings  of  course,  like  other  people,  ought  to 
keep  their  words.  But  throughout  his  life,"  the  Duke 
of  Alva  said,  "he  had  observed  that  the  dealings  of 
princes  with  one  another  depended  on  conditions  dif- 
ferent from  those  w^hich  determined  the  obligations  of 
private  gentlemen.  He  had  learnt  that  lesson  from 
the  conduct  of  that  noble  cavalier  and  great  Prince, 
his  Majesty's  noble  father  the  Emperor.^  The  present 
difficulties  would  never  have  arisen  if  his  Majesty 
would  have  been  guided  by  himself  about  Ridolfi.  The 
later  complications  had  all  arisen  from  that  one  disas- 
trous error.  He  was  sorry  that  his  advice  did  not 
please  his  Majesty.  His  Majesty's  letters  to  him  con- 
sisted of  little  else  but  answers  to  his  arguments.  He 
did  not  pretend  to  be  invariably  right,  but  the  differ- 
enrps  of  o^oinion  between  his  Majesty  and  his  repre- 
sentatives occasioned  infinite  evils.  For  his  own  part, 
he  could  but  repeat  that,  at  a  time  when  every  soldier 
who  could  be  spared  from  Spain  was  required  in  the 
Netlierlands,  his  Majesty's  notion  of  entering  upon  a 

1  "  Entendi  que  las  negociaciones  de  los  reyes  pendian  de  muy  difTerentcs 
caboa  que  los  negocios  de  los  particularcs  caballcros  que  andamos  por  el 
mundo,  y  desta  mancra  lo  vi  tratar  a  su  Padro  de  V.  Mag''  que.  era  tan  gran 
caballero  y  tan  gran  rrincipc." — Alvu  to  Philip,  March  18,1573:  Cor- 
respondence of  Philip  //.,  Vol.  II. 


440  History  of  England.  [Ch.  xxiil. 

religious   crusade   was    simply   a    temptation    of   the 
devil." 

Still  struggling  against  the  degradation,  yet  con- 
vinced that  Alva  was  right,  Philip  after  this  letter 
withdrew  his  objections,  and  gave  the  Duke  his  way. 
He  still  required,  however,  that,  although  the  refugees 
might  be  required  to  leave  the  Low  Countries,  he  was 
not  to  be  obliged  to  surrender  them  to  "  the  knife  "  of 
Elizabeth.!  He  reserved  a  power  of  refusing  the  rati- 
fication should  the  progress  of  the  war  in  Holland 
prove  more  favourable  than  the  Duke  anticipated ;  and, 
not  altogether  accepting  Alva's  theory  of  his  obliga- 
tions, he  introduced  a  clause  which  limited  the  dura- 
tion of  the  treaty  to  two  years. 

Thus  sanctioned,  Alva  sent  orders  to  De  Guaras  to 
make  final  arrangements  with  Burghley.  By  the  mid- 
dle of  April  the  ports  of  Spain  and  the  Low  Countries 
were  formally  opened  to  English  commerce  without 
danger  of  the  Inquisition,  and  Philip,  Alva,  and  EHza- 
beth  became  again  nominally  friends.  The  provisional 
character  of  the  alliance  was  understood  on  both  sides, 
and  altliouffh  other  and  more  embarrassino;  conditions 
were  verbally  introduced,  it  was  not  thought  desirable 
to  strain  a  weak  chain,  and  the  execution  of  them  was 
tacitly  suspended. 

Westmoreland  and  his  companions  continued  a  little 
lonser  unmolested  at  Louvaine,  and  the  Flemish  mer- 
chants  and  artisans  remained  in  London.  The  pirates 
still  preyed  on  Spanish  commerce,  and  the  London 
citizens  supplied  what  was  wanting  in  their  rulers  by 
subscribing  250,000?.  for  the  Prince  of  Orange.  But 
the  dreaded  alliance  between  Elizabeth  and  the  insur- 
gent Provinces  was  postponed,  the  two  Governments 
1  "  Al  cuchillo  de  aquella  muger." 


1572.]  TJie  Reign  of  Elizabeth.  441 

retui'ned  to  relations  wliich  were  amicable  in  more  than 
name,  and  Alva  and  the  Queen  of  England  left  each 
other  to  settle  theu'  own  difficulties  in  their  own  way 
without  interfering  with  one  another,  and  with  a 
mutual  security  against  France.  The  Prince  of 
Orange  had  a  terrible  time  before  him  ;  but  the  dis- 
couragement produced  among  the  English  Catholics  by 
the  open  apostasy  of  Spain  did  more,  perhaps,  to  ad- 
vance the  general  interests  of  the  Reformation  than 
a  Protestant  league,  which  would  have  brought  on 
everywhere  the  internecine  struo;2;le  between  the  two 
creeds.  The  fairer  prospects  of  the  previous  summer 
had  been  ruined  on  the  day  of  St.  Bartholomew. 

One  countr}',  at  any  rate,  was  to  derive  profit  from 
the  relaxation  of  Elizabeth's  embarrassments.  It  is 
time  to  return  to  Sir  Henry  Killegrew  and  his  momen- 
tous mission  to  Scotland.  In  the  spring  and  summer 
of  1572,  the  alliance  between  England  and  France,  the 
abandonment  of  Mary  Stuart's  interests  by  Charles  and 
Catherine,  and  their  apparent  intention  of  taking  up 
the  cause  of  European  liberty,  had  broken  the  spirits 
of  the  defenders  of  Edinburo;  Castle.  Fair  words  were 
occasionally  sent  to  them  from  Paris  to  keep  up  their 
spirits,  but  more  substantial  help  had  long  ceased  to 
reach  them.  The  country  people  no  longer  supplied 
them  with  food,  and  they  were  too  weak  to  foray. 

Tlie  suspension  of  arms  at  the  beginning  of  August 
gave  them  a  respite  ;  but  Maitland,  in  entire 
despondency,  informed  Mary  Stuart  that  un- 
less they  received  assistance  they  could  not  renew  the 
struggle.  "  Her  cause  would  not  perish  as  long  as 
they  could  keep  the  castle  ;  "  but  they  had  nothing 
left  to  pay  their  soldiers  with,  and  he  thought  her  best 
course  would  be  to  submit  to  Elizabeth,  "  who  if  she 


442  History  of  England.  [Ch.  xxiii. 

now  made  good  offers,  would  show  her  more  favour 
than  she  did  when  she  had  more  friends."  ^ 

The  catastrophe  of  the  24th  of  August  appeared  at 
first  to  complete  the  prostration  which  already  had 
gone  so  far.  Grange  was  a  sincere  Protestant  —  his 
brother  James  Kirkaldy,  who  was  in  Paris  at  the  time 
on  a  mission  to  the  Court,  narrowly  escaped  murder, 
and  was  horror-struck  by  the  scenes  which  he  witnessed 
there  ;  ^  and  Killegrew,  who,  besides  his  secret  com- 
mission for  the  surrender  and  execution  of  Mary  Stuart, 
was  directed  to  use  the  moment  to  brine:  about  a  een- 
eral  reconciliation,  found  this  part  of  his  duty  seemingly 
of  easy  accomplishment.  The  nobler  mind  of  Scot- 
land was  startled  out  of  its  petty  feuds.  A  heartfelt 
indignation  worked  in  all  parties  to  extinguish  the 
latest  remnants  of  French  sympathies ;  and  every  one, 
whatever  his  creed  or  politics,  was  eager  to  wash  his 
hands  of  all  connexion  with  a  Court  which  was  presided 
over  by  assassins. 

"  Those  that  have  any  fear  of  God,"  reported  Kille- 
grew, "  break  out  Into  open  speeches  of  de- 

September.  .  ,  ,  ,   ,  i  -i  •       i 

testmg  the  cruelty,  and  have  exhibited  a  sup- 
plication to  the  Regent  to  take  counsel  in  time,  and 
prevent  the  danger  apparent  from  drawing  nearer. 
Every  man  crieth  out  to  join  with  England  in  some 
straio-hter  leao;ue."  ^ 

The  nobles,  long  "  nuzzled  "  in  bloodshed,  would 
not  in  themselves  have  been  very  deeply  affected  :  but 
the  power  of  the  nobles  was  fast  declining  ;  a  middle 
class,  made  strong  by  faith  in  God,   was  stepping  for- 

1  Maitlandto  the  Queen  of  Scots,  August  10  (decipher):  MSS.  Scotland. 

2  James  Kirkaldy  to  them   of  the  Castle,  August  24:    MSS.  Queen  of 
Scots. 

8  Killegrew  to  Burghley,  September  29 :  MSS.  Scotland. 


1572.]  Tlie  Reign  of  Elizabeth.  443 

ward  into  energy  and  self-reliance ;  and  in  worldly 
strength  as  well  as  spiritual  power,  they  were  making 
good  their  place  in  the  commonwealth.  They  had 
bought  arms  and  had  learnt  to  use  them,  and  were  no 
longer  at  the  mercy  of  the  steel-coated  retainers  of  the 
earls  and  barons.  Their  ministers  were  as  ready  with 
hand  as  tongue.  Durie  of  Leith,  a  friend  of  Knox, 
was  famous  in  the  pulpit,  but  "the  gown  na  sooner  off, 
and  the  Bible  out  of  hand,  Avhen  on  gaed  the  corslet, 
and  fangit  was  the  hackbut  and  to  the  field."  i  They 
had  taken  to  the  sea  like  the  Protestants  of  the  West, 
"  and  their  navy  was  so  augmented  as  was  a  thing  al- 
most incredible."  Killegrew  noted  the  change,  and 
gathered  hopes  from  it  for  Scotland's  future.^ 

On  men  like  these  the  massacre  of  St.  Bartholomew 
told  with  tremendous  effect,  and  for  a  time  their  indig- 
nant passion  threatened  to  carry  all  before  it.  John 
Knox,  to  whose  teaching  they  owed  their  national  ex- 
istence, had  been  residing  for  the  last  years  with  foil- 
ing health  at  St.  Andrew's.  He  could  no  loncrer  walk 
unsupported,  but  still  Sunday  after  Sunday  he  dracroed 
his  frail  body  to  the  church,  and  there  with  keen  polit- 
ical sagacity  he  interpreted  out  of  the  Bible  the  Scot- 
land of  his  own  day.^  To  iiim  the  government  of  the 
world  by  Almighty  God  was  a  living  reality  ;  he  con- 
sidered that  good  men  were  placed  in  it  to  wage  war — 
not  with  shadowy  doctrines,  but  with  the  incarnation 
of  the  evil  sj)irit  in  wicked  men  and  wicked  deeds. 
He  spoke  of  Mary  Stuart  —  he  spoke  of  the  Hamiltons, 

1  Diary  of  James  ^felville  of  S/.  Andrew's. 

■■*  Killegrew  to  iiurghley,  November  11:  MSS.  Scotland. 

8  "  I  saw  him,"  writes  Melville,  "  every  day  of  his  doctrine  c;&e  hulie 
and  fear,  with  a  furring  of  niarticks  about  his  neck  and  a  staff  in  his  hand, 
and  godly  Kichard  Haniiatyne  his  servant  holding  up  tiie  other  oxter.  He 
was  lifted  up  into  the  pulpit,  where  he  leaned  at  his  first  entry." 


444  History  of  England.  [Ch.  xxm. 

till  he  made  the  St.  Andrew's  students  "  grue  and 
tremble  "  to  listen  to  him.  He  knew  that  there  would 
be  no  end  to  Scotland's  miseries  till  the  last  remnant 
of  Mary  Stuart's  faction  was  utterly  extinguished,  and 
he  knew  that  sooner  or  later  England  would  be  com- 
pelled to  extinguish  it.  Cutting  through  the  mist  of 
words  and  spurious  patriotism,  "  he  spoke  of  the  Castle 
of  Edinburgh,  that  it  should  rin  like  a  sandglass,  and 
spew  out  the  Captain  with  shame  ;  "  and  when  the 
power  of  passion  was  upon  him,  the  sinews  of  his  weak 
body  became  strong  again,  "  and  he  was  like  to  ding 
the  pulpit  in  blads  and  fly  out  of  it."  ^ 

Such  was  Knox,  the  greatest  of  living  Scotchmen,  in 
that  last  year  of  his  life  on  earth,  still  lifting  the  voice 
which  long  before  had  stirred  his  countrymen  "  like 
ten  thousand  trumpets,"  still  strong  in  his  infirmity  till 
he  had  finished  his  task  upon  the  earth. 

After  the  armistice  he  returned  to  Edinburgh  at  the 
earnest  entreaty  of  the  people,  stipulating  only  that  he 
should  not  be  required  "  to  temper  his  tongue,"  or 
"  cease  to  speak  against  the  men  of  the  Castle."  He 
crossed  the  Forth  to  Leith  on  the  23d  of  August ;  on 
the  31st  he  preached  in  St.  Giles's,  but  the  church  was 
too  large  for  his  strength,  and  for  his  few  remaining 
Sundays  a  side  aisle  was  curtained  off  where  he  could 
speak  with  less  exertion. 

It  was  easy  to  see  how  the  news  of  St.  Bartholomew 
would  affect  him.     A  Convention  of  the  Es- 

October. 

tates  was  called  by  the  Regent  in  October, 
and  Knox  rallied  his  powers  for  the  last  time  to  preach 
to  them.  Du  Croc  the  French  Ambassador  was  pres- 
ent ;  turning  to  him  as  a  Hebrew  prophet  might  have 
turned,  Knox  said,  "  Go  tell  your  King  that  sentence 

1  Melville. 


1572.]  The  Reign  of  ElizabeVi.  445 

has  gone  out  against  him,  that  God's  vengeance  shall 
never  depart  from  him  nor  his  house,  that  his  name 
shall  remain  an  execration  to  the  posterities  to  come, 
and  that  none  that  shall  come  of  his  loins  shall  enjoy- 
that  kingdom  unless  he  repent."  The  prediction  was 
bold,  for  the  Queen  of  France  was  pregnant,  and  the 
news  of  the  birth  of  a  Dauphin  was  hourly  looked  for. 
Du  Croc  bade  the  Reo;ent  check  the  tono-ue  which  was 
reviling  an  anointed  Kino;.  The  Regent  said  he  might 
not  silence  the  minister  of  God,  and  the  Ambassador 
left  Edinburgh  in  anger.  Some  twenty  months  later 
Charles  IX.  lay  dying  of  hemorrhage  —  he  was 
haunted  with  hideous  dreams  ;  the  darkness  was  peo- 
pled with  ghosts  which  were  mocking  and  mowing  at 
him,  and  he  would  start  out  of  his  sleep  to  find  himself 
in  a  pool  of  blood  —  blood  —  ever  blood.  The  night 
before  his  end,  the  nurse  —  a  Huguenot  —  heard  him 
sob  and  sigh.  "  Ah  !  "  he  muttered,  "  but  I  was  ill- 
advised.  God  have  mercy  on  me  and  on  my  country ; 
what  will  become  of  that  ?  what  will  become  of  me  ? 
I  am  lost  —  I  know  it  but  too  well."  The  nurse  told 
him  that  the  blood  would  be  on  the  heads  of  those  who 
had  misled  him  —  on  them  and  on  their  accursed  coun- 
sels. He  sighed  again,  and  blessed  God  that  he  had 
left  no  son  to  inherit  his  crown  and  his  infamy.^ 

While  the  Scots  were  in  this  humour  the  second 
commission  of  the  English  envoy  was  no  less  welcome 
than  the  first.  The  Queen  of  Scots  was  the  represent- 
ative of  the  creed  which  had  caused  the  perpetration 
of  the  massacre,  and  which  blessed  it  afterwards  by  the 
mouth  of  the  Pope.  The  Queen  of  Scots  by  her 
crimes  had  caused  Scotland's  misery.  To  her  had 
been  traced  the  murder  of  the  Regent  Murray.     To 

1  Martin,  HuUnre  de  France. 


446  History  of  England.  [Ch.  xxiii. 

bring  her  to  justice  at  last  —  to  try,  convict,  and  exe- 
cute her,  would  be  one  act  in  vindication  of  honour  and 
right  amidst  the  stream  of  universal  iniquity.  The 
Earl  of  Mar,  after  consulting  Morton,  told  Killegrew 
that  "  it  would  be  the  best,  and  as  it  were  the  only, 
salve  for  the  cure  of  the  great  sores  of  the  common- 
wealth."  There  might  be  difficulties  in  the  details, 
but  with  good-will  on  both  sides  they  would  be  over- 
come ;  and  as  Elizabeth  had  given  Killeo-rew  his  in- 
structions  with  her  own  mouth,  and  as  there  could  be 
no  doubt  that  Burghley  would  do  his  best  to  hold  her 
to  her  purpose,  there  was  hope  at  last  of  a  good  end  to 
the  grand  problem.  Mary  Stuart  being  dead,  all  other 
questions  would  perish  with  her.  Grange  would  sur- 
render the  Castle.  Burghley  might  revive  his  friend- 
ship with  Maitland,  and  Scotland  could  be  gratified 
at  last  by  the  recognition  of  James  as  Elizabeth's  suc- 
cessor. England  must,  of  course,  stand  conspicuously 
forward,  and  take  its  share  in  the  responsibility  of  the 
execution  ;  and  nothing  would  then  be  wanting  for  the 
complete  pacification  of  Scotland,  and  the  union  of  the 
whole  island  in  a  common  policy. 

The  Earl  of  Mar's  confidence  that  Elizabeth  would 
commit  herself  to  more  than  the  surrender 

November. 

was  not  shared  by  Killegrew.  She  had  charged 
him  on  no  account  to  allow  her  name  to  appear. ^  He 
believed  —  he  probably  knew — that  having  made  up 
her  mind  that  she  wished  the  Queen  of  Scots  to  be 

1  "I  forgot  not  the  great  charge  her  Majesty  gave  me  at  my  coming 
hither,  saying  that  no  more  was  privy  to  the  matter  but  your  Honours;  and 
I  could  but  promise  her  Majesty  it  should  be  to  me  as  my  life,  which  I 
trust  I  have  kept.  If  it  shall  be  proved  hereafter  that  I  used  her  Majesty's 
name  therein,  or  passed  the  bounds  of  my  commission,  I  will  never  more 
desire  favour."  —  Killegrew  to  Cecil  and  Leicester,  November  23:  MSS. 
Scotland. 


1572.]  The  Reign  of  Elizabeth.  447 

put  away,  her  Majesty  wanted  to  shift  upon  the  Scots 
both  the  deed  and  the  reproaches  of  the  world. 

He  declined  to  make  engagements  beyond  the  letter 
of  his  instructions  ;  and  the  Regent  at  once  drew  up 
in  writing  the  conditions  on  which  he  was  prepared  to 
become  the  judge  and  executioner  of  his  late  sover- 
eign. 

The  Queen  of  England  must  openly  and  without 
reserve  acknowledge  the  young  King,  and  constitute 
herself  his  protector ;  and  the  English  Parliament 
must  pass  an  Act  declaring  that  the  prosecution  and 
conviction  of  Mary  Stuart  should  not  affect  the  claims 
upon  the  Crown  which  the  King  would  inherit  from 
his  mother.  A  league  must  be  made  between  Eng- 
land and  the  State  of  Scotland  "  for  resistino-  all  those 
who  would  invade  either  of  the  realms  for  rcliiiion  or 
for  any  other  cause.  The  Castle  of  Edinburgh  must 
be  compelled  or  induced  to  submit  to  the  King's  au- 
thority ;  and  finally,  the  Earls  of  Huntingdon  and 
Bedford  must  be  present  at  the  execution,"  with  two 
or  three  thousand  Eno-lish  men  of  war.i 

Killegrew  liad  been  despatched  to  Scotland  in  the 
first  excitement  which  followed  the  massacre,  when 
Elizabeth  expected  an  immediate  union  of  the  Catho- 
lic Powers  against  her,  when  she  was  uncertain  alto- 
gether of  the  position  in  which  she  was  about  to  find 
herself  either  towards  France  or  Spain  or  the  Prince 
of  Orange.  If,  as  there  was  too  much  reason  to  sup- 
pose, the  death-struggle  for  Catholic  reascendancy  was 
at  last  to  begin,  there  would  then  have  been  an  ade- 
quate reason  for  dealing  decisively  with  Mary  Stuart ; 
but  it  seemed  as  if  nothing  short  of  an  extreme  exi- 

1  Certain  note8  given  to  Killegrew  on  the  part  of  the  Regent  and  Morton, 
October  28:  MSS.  Scotland. 


448  Eistory  of  England.  [Ch.  xxill. 

gency  of  this  kind  could  nerve  the  Queen  to  sufficient 
resolution  —  as  if,  the  moment  that  the  strain  was 
taken  oflP,  she  relapsed  into  her  old  uncertainty. 
Maitland  ever  maintained,  and  defended  his  own  con- 
duct by  maintaining,  that  whatever  Elizabeth  might 
threaten,  or  might  at  times  believe  that  she  meant  to 
do,  she  would  end  by  restoring  Mary  Stuart  to  her 
throne.  Maitland  had  accurately  judged  the  Queen's 
natural  tendency,  and  there  were  traitors  about  her 
who  for  ever  encouraged  her  weakness,  and  whose  in- 
fluence  was  perpetually  at  work  to  thwart  her  wiser 
advisers. 

Under  no  circumstances  would  she  have  consented 
to  the  Regent's  last  demand.  Before  the  conditions 
reached  her,  she  had  already  repented  of  her  momen- 
tary firmness,  and  Leicester  on  the  2d  of  November 
had  to  write  to  Burghley  that  "  her  Majesty  had  been 
in  strange  resolutions,"  that  "  he  never  saw  her  further 
from  that  they  looked  for "  from  the  time  that  the 
Queen  of  Scots  had  first  begun  to  trouble  her  peace, 
and  that  he  could  but  pray  that  God  would  put  a  bet- 
ter determination  in  her  heart  for  her  own  sake  and 
for  theirs. 1 

At  this  moment  the  unfortunate  Scotland  was  again 
convulsed  by  the  death  of  the  Earl  of  Mar.  Poison 
or  natural  illness  —  it  was  uncertain  which  —  threw 
the  Regency  open,  after  every  one  except  the  party  in 
the  Castle  had  acquiesced  in  Mar's  authority.  The 
rivalries  of  the  great  families  and  the  suspended  feuds 
and  hatreds  were  at  once  revived.  The  natural  com- 
mand of  the  section  who  had  adhered  throughout  to 
the  King  devolved  on  Morton.  At  one  time  Morton 
had  maintained  almost  the  entire  weight  of  the  civil 


1 


Leicester  to  Bnrgliley,  November  2 :  Murdin. 


1572.]  The  Reign  of  Elizabeth.  449 

war,  and  he  alone  had  never  truckled  to  France,  or 
lent  himself  to  the  thousand  intrigues  for  the  restora- 
tion of  the  Queen.  There  was  no  other  nobleman  in 
Scotland  on  whom  the  English  Ministers  could  rely. 
Yet  Morton  was  licentious  in  his  private  life,  and  in 
public  avaricious  and  unprincipled.  His  creed  was 
purely  political ;  and  if  the  times  made  him  necessary 
to  the  Protestants,  they  none  the  less  distrusted  his 
principles  and  censured  his  character.  His  power  was 
great,  however,  and  his  ability  considerable.  If  Mar 
had  nominally  governed  Scotland,  Morton  had  gov- 
erned Mar.  None  but  he  could  carry  on  the  policy  on 
which  the  settlement  of  the  country  had  been  so  far 
advanced.  And  there  was  a  special  reason  for  uneasi- 
ness in  the  position  of  the  young  King ;  for  Lady  Mar, 
m  whose  hands  he  was  left  at  Stirling,  was  a  fanatical 
Catholic,  and  was  supposed  to  desire  to  send  him 
either  to  France  or  Spain. 

On  this  matter  decision  could  not  be  postponed. 
Burghley  was  absent  from  London  when  the  news  ar- 
rived ;  but  he  impressed  on  Leicester,  who  was  left 
with  the  Queen,  the  paramount  importance  of  main- 
taining Morton  ;  and  Leicester,  who  had  at  last  aban- 
doned his  own  hopes,  and  was  working  cordially  at 
Burghley's  side,  used  all  his  powers  of  persuasion. 
His  task  was  not  an  easy  one,  for  the  household  influ- 
ences which  he  himself  had  once  fostered  were  ao-ainst 
...  » 

him  —  now  ni  greater  strength  than  ever  —  and  at 
their  old  work  in  Mary  Stuart's  interests.^  He  urged 
his    mistress  to   be    quick  and    prompt    "  in    showhig 

1  "  I  have  learnt  here  since  you  went  that  this  House  is  no  less  infested, 
and  grown  unto  sudi  persons  as  you  would  never  suspect.     You  see  how 
far  this  Canker  lias  passed.     I  fear  a  fistula  irrecoverable."  —Leicester  to 
Uurghlcy,  November  4:  Murdin. 
VOL.  X.  29 


450  Eistory  of  England.  [Ch.  xxiii 

herself  careful  for  the  maintenance  of  her  friends, 
whose  ruin  would  be  her  own  danger."  He  told  her 
that  she  must  send  men  and  monev  to  the  Borders,  and 
give  Lord  Hunsdon  discretionary  powers  to  act  in 
Scotland.  "  Her  Majesty  talked  to  and  fro  what  was 
best "  —  but  as  usual  could  not  resolve.  Leicester  re- 
minded her  "  of  her  long  cold  dealing,  wliich  had 
caused  many  to  fall  away  from  the  cause  when,  with 
hope  of  maintenance,  they  would  have  clung  to  it." 
That  cause,  without  assistance,  now  "  would  quail." 
The  Queen  asked  what  Burghley  thought.  Leicester 
showed  her  Burghley's  letter,  which  was  expressed  so 
powerfully  that  it  frightened  her,  and  she  said  she 
would  "  stick  at  nothing.''  But  still,  to  every  distinct 
suggestion  she  did  but  raise  objections,  when  every 
moment  was  precious,  when  "  hours  were  days,  and 
days  were  years,  and  too  many  were  gone  already." 
Leicester  ventured  to  say  "  that  never  prince  had 
been  better  advised  than  she  ;  that  she  could  now  per- 
ceive how  well  it  was  for  princes  to  trust  faithful  and 
known  councillors ;  "  that  if  she  had  but  listened  to 
one  among  them  all  "  the  trouble  like  to  happen  would 
not  have  been  possible."  But  his  words  were  wasted. 
She  had  fallen  into  one  of  her  periodic  fits  of  tender- 
ness about  the  Queen  of  Scots,  which  she  conceived 
that  her  improved  relations  with  Spain  enabled  her  to 
indulge,  and  Leicester  could  but  entreat  Burghley  to 
hurry  back  to  her  side :  "  Burcrhlev  could  do  more 
with  her  in  one  hour  than  others  in  seven  years."  ^ 

On  the  back  of  this  conversation,  a  Captain  Erring- 
ton  came  from  Edinburgh  with  a  message  from  Mor- 
ton,  who,  ignorant  of  the  change  in  Elizabeth's  feeling, 
supposed  that   she  still    entertained    the    same  wishes 

1  Leicester  to  Burghley,  November  4 :  Murdin. 


1572.]  The  Rdgn  of  Elizahetli.  451 

which  she  had  expi-essed  through  Killegrew,  and  pro- 
fessed himself  ready  to  meet  them  on  the  conditions 
which  she  now  saw  for  the  first  time.  She  pronounced 
them  at  once  "  to  be  absurd  and  unreasonable."  The 
request  for  an  English  army  to  superintend  the  Queen 
of  Scots'  execution  she  supposed  must  have  been 
made  in  "  mockery."  Could  the  thino;  have  been 
done  at  all,  "neither  the  Encrlish  Council  nor  she  her- 
self  should  have  been  touched  in  the  matter."  ^ 
Another  request  of  Errington  was  hardly  less  disa- 
greeable. The  election  of  a  Regent  could  not  be  de- 
layed. Morton  seemed  to  have  no  anxiety  for  the 
office.  He  knew  what  Mar's  difficulties  had  been, 
and  that  his  own  would  probably  be  greater  ;  and,  so 
far  from  seeking  power,  he  intimated  that  he  woidd 
decline  the  nomination  unless  Elizabeth  would  cive 
him  a  distinct  and  positive  promise  of  support.  The 
meaning  of  this  was  explained  by  Killegrew,  who 
wrote  at  the  same  time  that  France  was  pouring  in 
money  ;  that,  notwithstanding  the  horror  caused  by 
the  massacre  among  the  people,  if  Elizabeth  "  spared 
to  spend  a  little  in  return,"  the  nobles  Avould  choose 
some  one  in  French  interests  ;  and  "  what  that  would 
mean,  her  Majesty  was  well  able  to  judge."  ^ 

That  the  request  for  money  at  least  was  reasonable 
Elizabeth  could  not  deny.  The  party  of  the  Queen 
of  Scots  had  been  maintained  by  steady  contributions 
from  France,  Spain,  and  Ital}',  in  addition  to  her  own 
dowry.  The  supplies  had  been  sus[)ended  for  a  time, 
but  were  now  to  be  renewed  ;  while  Elizabeth,  liow- 
ever  gracious  in  her  j)romises,  had  limited  licr  siil)- 
stantial  assistance  to  a    thousand    pounds,  grudgingly 

1  Killfffrew  to  Burghley  and  Leicester,  November  23:  ^fSS.  Scotland. 
*  Killegrew  to  Sir  Tlionias  Smith,  November  G:  3//S  Ibid. 


452  History  of  England.  [Ch.  xxiii. 

bestowed,  while  she  had  withheld  the  sino-le  measure 
which  would  have  been  more  valuable  to  her  friends 
than  millions,  and  had  all  along  refused  formally  to 
acknowledge  James  as  King  of  Scotland.  Grange 
and  Maitland  had  recovered  from  their  despondency 
as  France  be^ran  again  to  show  them  favour.  Hand- 
some  sums  came  in  to  them  from  Paris,  and  more  was 
promised ;  and,  well  informed  from  the  Palace  at 
Westminster  of  Elizabeth's  humours,  thev  had  cast 
aside  their  intention  of  surrender,  and  presented  as 
bold  a  front  as  ever.  The  civil  war  was  about  to  re- 
commence, with  all  its  cost  and  uncertainty,  and 
Morton  was  determined  not  to  enter  upon  it  on  the 
old  terms.  EHzabeth  was  more  interested  than  he  was 
in  maintaining  the  King.  He  at  any  time  could  make 
his  own  terms  with  the  other  party,  and  she  was  not 
any  longer  to  reap  the  chief  benefit,  and  pay  nothing 
for  it. 

The  Queen  felt  the  weight  of  Morton's  argument, 
and  her  behaviour  under  it  was  eminently  characteris- 
tic. She  wrote  to  him,  expressing  a  sincere  desire  that 
he  should  take  the  Regency :  she  gave  him  in  general 
terms  the  promise  which  he  desired,  and  she  empow- 
ered Killecrrew  to  use  the  same  language  to  tlie  noble- 
men  who  were  assembled  for  the  election.  She  trusted 
that  this  would  be  enough,  and  she  foi'bade  Killegrew 
to  commit  her  to  anything  more  definite. 

The  nobles  had  received  words  enough  already,  and 
knew  what  they  were  worth.  Both  tliey  and  Morton 
insisted  on  a  distinct  statement  of  the  degree  of  help  on 
which  they  might  rely,  saying  at  the  same  time  that 
if  Killegrew  would  not  give  it,  the  election  would  be 
postponed. 

The  envoy  knew  what  was  expected  of  him,  and  did 


1572.]  TJie  Reign  of  ElizahetTi.  453 

his  duty  like  a  loyal  servant.  He  was  to  liave  ap- 
peared before  the  Convention  of  the  Estates  with  the 
required  explanations,  and  he  was  well  aware  that  they 
would  be  unsatisfactory.  He  put  it  off,  therefore,  till 
the  day  when  the  Regent  was  to  be  chosen,   ^ 

•'  ~  _  December. 

when  Morton  came  for  his  answer ;  and 
"  because  "  —  it  was  thus  that  he  related  his  manoeuvre 
to  his  mistress  —  "  because  I  would  keep  the  Earl  of 
Morton  in  hope  till  the  election  was  passed,  I  excused 
myself  upon  sickness,  and  desired  his  Lordship  to  bear 
with  me  for  a  day  or  two,  assuring  him  that  your 
Majesty  had  as  great  care  of  the  King's  welldoing  and 
safety,  and  of  himself  in  particular,  as  ever  your  Maj- 
esty had  heretofore  ;  with  such  like  general  speeches, 
tending  all  to  encourage  him  to  take  upon  himself  the 
Regency.  So  he  parted  with  me  for  that  time,  and  I 
continued  sick  till  the  day  after  he  was  proclaimed 
Regent."  i 

Great  in  her  general  attitude,  great  in  her  own  heart 
and  bearing  at  special  moments  of  danger,  Elizabeth 
could  yet  stoop  to  these  poor  tricks,  which,  after  all, 
were  not  to  serve  her.  "  The  Regent,"  Killegrew  re- 
ported to  Burghley,  "  was  a  shrewd  fellow."  When 
he  found  that  he  had  been  duped,  he  too  affected  a 
few  days'  illness  to  think  over  his  position.  He  then 
told  the  English  envoy  that  he  could  do  nothing  with- 
out money  ;  the  King's  cause  and  his  own  life  would 
both  be  in  danger  ;  and  therefore,  "  if  the  Queen's 
Majesty  would  not  help  him  in  that  which  of  necessity 
he  must  have,  and  which  should  be  as  little  as  might 
be  required  with  reason,  he  would  renounce  the  regi- 
ment." 2 

1  Kille)?rew  to  Elizabeth,  December  2:  MSS.  Scotland. 

2  Killegrew  to  IJurghley,  January  1:  MS.  Ibid. 


454  Eistory  of  England.  [Ch.  xxiii. 

In  the  midst  of  these  chicaneries,  an  event  had  taken 
place  by  the  side  of  which  they  were  doubly  contemp- 
tible. The  apostle  of  the  Reformation  had  passed 
away  —  passed  away,  noble  in  death  as  in  life,  the  one 
supremely  great  man  that  Scotland  possessed  —  the 
one  man  without  whom  Scotland,  as  the  modern  world 
has  known  it,  would  have  had  no  existence. 

Shortly  after  Knox's  last  sermon,  a  paralytic  stroke 
prostrated  his  remaining  strength ;  he  became 
unable  to  read,  and  for  a  day  or  two  his  mind 
was  wandering.     He  recovered  his  senses,  but  only  to 
know  that  the  end  was  not  far  off ;  and  still  thinking 
of  his  country,  and  of  his  country's  present  trials,  he 
sent  for  the  elders  of  the  Kirk,  to  charge  them  for  the 
last  time  to  be  constant.     His   next   anxiety  was  for 
Grange.     Grange,  who,  as  a  boy,  had  shared  in  that 
forlorn  enterprise  at  St.  Andrew's  when  Beton  went 
to    his    account,  was  a  person  whom  Knox  had   long 
loved  and  prized.     In  the  last  years,  by  some  fatality, 
he  had  been  led  by  Maitland  into  the  ways  of  foolish- 
ness ;    beyond  and  beside  the  spiritual  aspects  of  the 
matter,  none  knew  better  than  Knox  in  which  way  the 
long   obstinacy  of  the  defenders  of  the  Castle  would 
end  at  last,  and  he  made  a  final  eifort  to  save  his  old 
friend    from    destroying   himself.     "  Go,"    he    said  to 
David  Lindsay,  a  minister  who  came  to  his  bedside, 
"  Go  to  yon  man  of  the  Castle.     Tell  him  I  warn  him 
in  the  name  of  God  to  leave  that  evil  cause,  and  give 
over  the    Castle.     If  not,  he  shall   be  brought  down 
over  the  walls  with  shame  and  hung  against  the  sun." 
Lindsay  went  as  he  was   bidden  and  saw  Grange, 
and  "  somewhat  moved  him."     But  he  talked  to  Mait- 
land, and  Maitland  turned  the  warning  into  ridicule. 
"  Go,  tell  Mr.  Knox,"  he  said  at  last  in  answer,  "  that 


1572.]  The  Reign  of  Elizabeth.  455 

he  is  but  a  drytting  prophet."  "  Well,  well,"  said 
Knox,  when  the  words  were  brought  back  to  him,  "  I 
have  been  earnest  with  my  God  anent  they  twa  men. 
For  the  one,  I  am  sorry  that  sa  should  befall  him  ;  yet 
God  assures  me  there  is  mercy  for  his  soul.  For  the 
other,  I  have  na  warrant  that  ever  he  shall  be  well." 

On  the  17th  of  November  the  elders  of  the  congre- 
gation came  to  his  bed  to  receive  his  last  instructions. 
He  went  over  the  chief  incidents  of  the  last  year  with 
them.  "  He  had  done  his  best  to  instruct  them,"  he 
said,  "  and  if  at  any  time  he  had  spoken  hardly,  it  was 
not  from  passion  or  ill-will,  but  only  to  overcome  their 
faults.  Now  that  he  was  going  away,  he  could  but 
charge  them  to  remain  true  —  to  make  no  compromise 
with  evil  —  especially  to  yield  in  nothing  to  the  Castle 
—  rather  to  fly  with  David  to  the  mountains  than  re- 
main at  home  in  the  company  of  the  wicked." 

Two  days  later,  the  19th,  Morton  came,  and  Ruth- 
ven  and  Glencairn  ;  and  to  them  he  spoke  at  length, 
thouo-li  what  passed  none  ever  knew.  Afterwards 
some  fine  lady  came  "  to  praise  him,"  to  flatter  him  in 
a  foolish  way  for  the  great  things  which  he  had  done. 
"  Hush,  hush  !  "  he  said  ;  "  flesh  is  ower  proud,  and 
needs  no  means  to  esteem  the  self." 

He  was  rapidly  going.  On  the  23d  he  told  the 
people  who  were  about  him  that  he  had  been  meditat- 
ing through  the  night  on  the  troubles  of  the  Kirk.  He 
had  been  earnest  in  prayer  with  God  for  it.  He  had 
wrestled  with  Satan,  and  had  prevailed.  He  repeated 
the  Apostles'  Creed  and  the  Lord's  Prayer,  pausing 
after  the  first  petition  to  say,  "  Who  can  pronounce  so 
holy  words  !  "  It  was  the  day  on  which  a  fast  had 
been  appointed  by  the  Convention  for  special  medita- 
tion upon  tlie  massacre.     After    sermon,  many  eager 


456  History  of  England.  [Ch.  xxiii. 

persons  came  to  his  bedside,  and,  though  his  breath 
was  coming  thick  and  slow,  he  continued  to  speak  in 
broken  sentences. 

The  next  morning  the  end  M^as  evidently  close.  He 
was  restless,  rose,  half-dressed  himself,  and  then,  find- 
ing himself  too  weak  to  stand,  sank  back  upon  his  bed. 
He  was  asked  if  he  was  in  pain.  He  said  "  it  was  no 
painful  pain,  but  such  as  would  end  the  battle."  Mrs. 
Knox  read  to  him  St.  Paul's  words  on  death.  "  Unto 
Thy  hand,  O  Lord,"  he  cried,  "  for  the  last  time,  I 
commend  my  soul,  spirit,  and  body."  At  his  own 
request  she  then  read  to  him  the  17th  chapter  of 
St.  John's  Gospel,  where  he  told  them  he  first  cast 
anchor. 

As  night  fell  he  seemed  to  sleep.  The  family  as- 
sembled in  his  room  for  their  ordinary  evening  prayers, 
and  "  were  the  longer  because  they  thought  he  was 
resting."  He  moved  as  they  ended.  "  Sir,  heard  ye 
the  prayers  ?  "  said  one.  "  I  would  to  God,"  he  an- 
swei'ed,  "  that  ye  and  all  men  heard  them  as  I  have 
heard  them,  and  I  praise  God  of  the  heavenly  sound." 
Then,  with  a  long  sigh,  he  said,  "  Now  it  is  come." 
The  shadow  was  creeping  over  him,  and  death  was  at 
hand.     Bannatyne,  his  secretary,  sprang  to  his  side. 

"  Now,  Sir,"  he  said,  "  the  time  ye  have  long  asked 
for  —  to  wit,  an  end  of  your  battle  —  is  come  ;  and, 
seeing  all  natural  power  fails,  remember  the  promise 
Avhich  oftentimes  ye  have  shown  me  of  our  Saviour 
Jesus  Christ,  and  that  we  may  understand  ye  hear  us 
make  us  some  si^n." 

The  dying  man  gently  raised  his  head,  and  "  incon- 
tinent thereof,  rendered  up  his  spirit."  ^ 

"  There  lies  one,"  said  Morton,  as,  two  days  later, 

^  1  Narrative  of  Richard  Bannatyne. 


1572.]  The  Reign  of  EUzaheih.  457 

he  stood  to  watch  the  coffin  lowered  into  tlie  grave,  — 
"  there  lies  one  who  never  feared  the  face  of  mortal 
man."  IVIorton  spoke  only  of  what  he  knew  :  the  full 
measure  of  Knox's  greatness  neither  he  nor  any  man 
could  then  estimate.  It  is  as  we  look  back  over  that 
storm V  time,  and  weio;h  the  actors  in  it  one  against  the 
other,  that  he  stands  out  in  his  full  proportions.  No 
grander  figure  can  be  found,  in  the  entire  history  of 
the  Reformation  in  this  island,  than  that  of  Knox. 
Cromwell  and  Burghley  rank  beside  him  for  the  work 
which  they  effected,  but,  as  politicians  and  statesmen, 
they  had  to  labour  with  instruments  which  they  soiled 
their  hands  in  touching.  In  purity,  in  uprightness,  in 
courage,  truth,  and  stainless  honour,  the  Regent  Mur- 
ray and  our  English  Latimer  were  perhaps  his  equals  ; 
but  Murray  was  intellectually  far  below  him,  and  the 
sphere  of  Latimer's  influence  was  on  a  smaller  scale. 
The  time  has  come  when  English  history  may  do  jus- 
tice to  one  but  for  whom  the  Reformation  would  have 
been  overthrown  among  ourselves  ;  for  the  spirit  which 
Knox  created  saved  Scotland  ;  and  if  Scotland  had  been 
Catholic  ao-ain,  neither  the  wisdom  of  Elizabeth's  Min- 
isters,  nor  the  teaching  of  her  Bishops,  nor  her  own 
chicaneries,  would  have  preserved  England  from  revo- 
lution. His  was  the  voice  which  taught  the  peasant  of 
the  Lothians  that  he  was  a  free  man,  the  equal  in  the 
sight  of  God  with  the  proudest  peer  or  prelate  that  had 
trampled  on  his  forefathers.  He  was  the  one  antagonist 
whom  Mary  Stuart  could  not  soften  nor  Maitland  de- 
ceive ;  he  it  was  that  raised  the  poor  Commons  of  his 
country  into  a  stern  and  rugged  people,  who  might  be 
hard,  narrow,  superstitious,  and  fanatical,  but  who, 
nevertheless,  were  men  whom  neither  king,  noble,  nor 
priest   could  force  again  to  submit  to  tyranny.     And 


458  History  of  England,  [Ch.  xxiii. 

his    reward  has   been    the    ingratitude    of  those    who 

should  most  have  done  honour  to  his  memory. 

The  change  of  times  has  brought  with  it  the  tolera- 
te C3 

tion  which  Knox  denounced,  and  has  established  the 
compromises  which  Knox  most  feared  and  abhorred, 
and  he  has  been  described  as  a  raving  demagogue,  an 
enemy  of  authority,  a  destroyer  of  holy  things,  a  wild 
and  furious  bigot.  But  the  Papists  whom  Knox  grap- 
pled with  and  overthrew — the  Papists  of  Philip  II., 
of  Mary  Tudor,  and  Pius  V.  —  were  not  the  mild  for- 
bearing innocents  into  which  the  success  of  the  Refor- 
mation  has  transformed  the  modern  Catholics.  When 
their  power  to  kill  was  taken  from  them,  when  they 
learnt  to  disclaim  the  Inquisition  —  to  apologise,  to 
evade  —  to  fling  the  responsibility  of  their  past  atroc- 
ities on  the  temper  of  other  times  —  on  the  inti'igues 
of  kings  and  statesmen,  or  on  the  errors  of  their  own 
leaders  —  then,  indeed,  their  creed  could  be  allowed 
to  subside  into  a  place  among  the  religiones  licitce  of 
the  world.  But  the  men  who  took  from  Popery  its 
power  to  oppress,  alone  made  its  presence  again  en- 
durable ;  and  only  a  sentimental  ignorance  or  deliber- 
ate misrepresentation  of  the  history  of  the  sixteenth 
century  can  sustain  the  pretence  that  there  was  no 
true  need  of  a  harder  and  firmer  hand. 

The  reaction  when  the  work  was  done,  a  romantic 
sympathy  with  the  Stuarts,  and  the  shallow  liberalism 
which  calls  itself  historical  philosophy,  has  painted  over 
the  true  Knox  with  the  figure  of  a  maniac.  Even  his 
very  bones  have  been  flung  out  of  their  resting-place, 
or  none  can  tell  where  they  are  laid  ;  and  yet  but  for 
him  Mary  Stuart  would  have  bent  Scotland  to  her  pur- 
pose, and  Scotland  would  have  been  the  lever  with 
which  France  and  Spain  would  have  worked  on  Eng- 


liry  ]  The  Reign  of  Elizabeth.  459 

laud.  But  for  Knox  and  Buro-ldev  —  those  two,  but 
not  one  without  the  other — EHzabeth  wouhl  have 
been  flung  from  off  lier  tlirone,  or  have  gone  back  into 
the  Eg}-pt  to  which  slie  was  too  often  casting  wistful 
ejes. 

On  the  1st  of  January  the  fighting  began  again. 
The  Castle  guns  fired  upon  the  town  ;  and 

*  .  January. 

the  attempt  to  entangle  Morton  m  therespon- 
sibihties  of  government,  without  committing  the  Queen 
of  England,  havino-  broken  down,  she  was  obliged  to 
comply  with  his  terms,  to  give  him  money,  to  acknowl- 
edge the  King  without  more  subterfuge,  to  avoAv 
openly  that  she  intended  to  support  him,  and  to 
threaten  once  more  that  if  Maitland  and  Grange  did 
not  submit,  she  would  send  a  force  to  compel  tliem. 

Engineers  came  from  Berwick  to  survey  the  Castle, 
and  reported  that  it  could  be  taken  with  no  great  diffi- 
culty ;  but  it  was  thought  that  the  recognition  and  the 
menace  v^ould  be  sufficient,  and  that  Maitland,  when 
he  found  Elizabeth  serious,  would  surrender. 

Being  supplied  with  funds  to  pay  soldiei's,  Morton 
was  able  to  establish  a  close  blockade.  The  Castle 
guns  did  little  harm.  The  garrison  was  short  of  water. 
The  men  had  been  provided  in  part  from  a  well  at  the 
foot  of  the  cliff;  but  Morton  poisoned  it,  and  they  were 
reduced  to  the  two  springs  inside  the  fortifications, 
which  yielded  but  a  scanty  supply.  There  were  in  all 
inside  the  Castle  a  hundred  and  ninety-two  persons,  of 
whom  thirty-two  were  women  and  thirteen  were  boys. 
The  Gordons,  Hamiltons,  Kerrs,  Scotts,  Setons,  were 
all  away  in  their  own  counties,  waiting  for  the  turn  of 
events.  Grange,  Maitland,  Hume,  Sir  Robert  Mel- 
ville, and  the  Bishop  of  Dunkeld,  held  on  at  Edinburgh 
with  as  small  a  number  of  followers  as  were  thought 


460  History  of  England.  [Ch.  xxiil. 

sufficient  for  the  defence.      Maitland  was  so  ill  that, 

"  when    tlie  cannon  were  fired,  he  was  car- 
February.        .11 

ried  down  nito  the  vaults  below  St.  David's 

Tower,  because  he  could  not  abide  the  shot."  ^  If  the 
rest  of  Scotland  could  be  brouojht  to  terms  —  and  the 
rest  of  Scotland  was  simply  waiting  to  see  what  Eliza- 
beth intended  to  do  —  there  was  nothing  to  lead  any 
one  to  suppose  that  the  Castle  would  not  follow  the  ex- 
ample. The  noblemen  were  possessed  with  a  belief, 
which  Maitland  had  everywhere  impressed  upon  them, 
that  Ehzabeth  would  grow  weary  of  keeping  Mary 
Stuart,  and  would,  sooner  or  later,  reinstate  her.  If 
they  were  again  to  be  her  subjects,  their  interest  rec- 
ommended them  to  adhere  to  her  faction,  to  be  friends 
with  her  friends,  and  to  intrigue  with  the  Spaniards 
and  the  French.  If,  on  the  other  hand,  this  was  not  to 
be  —  if  EHzabeth  herself  could  be  depended  on,  and 
the  Kinor  was  to  be  maintained  —  thev  were  them- 
selves  tired  of  the  struggle,  and  they  were  beginning 
to  see  that  if  the  Queen  of  England  was  true  to  her- 
self, there  was  now  httle  chance  of  a  successful  Catho- 
lic revolution. 

The  recognition  of  James  was  the  turning-point  for 
wdiich  they  were  waiting.  No  sooner  was  it  proclaimed 
than  signs  appeared  everywhere  that  there  would  be 
no  more  resistance.  Many  difficult  questions  remained 
to  be  settled.  Argyle  and  Huntly  were  compromised 
in  the  murder  of  Darnley  ;  Chatelherault  and  his  sons 
in  the  deaths  of  Murray  and  Lennox.  Elizabeth  ad- 
vised that  the  prosecution  in  all  these  cases  should  be 
allowed  to  drop.  Religion  was  a  further  difficulty. 
While  the  civil  war  lasted,  the  Mass  had  been  restored 
in  the  north  and  west.  Several  noblemen  were  still 
1  Advices  out  of  Scotland,  February  10 :  MSS.  Scotland. 


1573.1  The  Reign  of  Elizabeth.  461 

openly  Catholics,  and  Eglinton,  in  the  Convention 
which  was  held  for  Morton's  election  to  the  Regency, 
ventured  to  speak  for  toleration.  In  this  matter,  how- 
ever, compromise  was  less  possible.  Morton  said  that 
the  Catholics  must  submit  to  the  common  consent  of 
the  realm,  and  Eglinton  would  not  press  his  desire. 
"  He  accompanied  the  Regent  to  the  sermon,"  and 
afterwards  took  pains  to  express  his  horror  at  the  ef- 
fects of  Catholic  fanaticism  in  France.^ 

A  conference  was  afterwards  held  at  Pei'th,  at  the 
"  lodo-inors  "  of  the  Encrlish  Ambassador,  who  offered  to 
mediate  under  Elizabeth's  direction.  Huntly  and  Ar- 
broath were  present,  and  at  length,  when  they  and  the 
other  professing  Catholics  agreed  to  swear  "  to  with- 
stand all  those  who  should  go  about  to  put  in  execution 
the  bloody  decrees  of  the  Council  of  Trent,"  the  Regent 
consented  to  accept  the  oath  as  a  substitute  for  conform- 
ity, and  they  were  left  to  use  whatever  service  they 
pleased  in  their  own  houses. 

These  and  other  points  of  difference  being  thus  dis- 
posed of,  the  heads  of  all  the  families  who  had  hitherto 
held  out  for  the  Queen,  acknowledged  their  allegiance 
to  her  son  and  accepted  Morton  as  lawful  Regent. 
The  French  had  no  longer  a  party  among  them.  Eng- 
land was  at  last  accepted  as  Scotland's  natural  and 
only  ally.  On  the  25th  of  February  the  work  of  paci- 
fication was  finally  completed,  and  Edinburgh  Castle 
remained  the  sole  spot  in  her  forfeited  dominions  where 
Mary  Stuart's  authority  was  maintained. 

The    fire    was    not   extinguished,  howevor,  till    the 

1  "  When  the  Act  for  the  League  with  England  was  read  many  gave 
their  voices  to  it,  and  especially  the  Lords  Eglinton  and  Sempell,  with  open 
detestation  of  the  Fn-nch  butcliers  and  late  liorrible  murders,  saying  they 
would  willingly  venture  their  lives,  lands,  and  goods  against  such."  —  Ad- 
vices out  of  Scotland,  February  10:  MBS.  Scotland. 


462  HiHtori/  of  England.  [Ch.  Xxiii. 

Castle  was  reduced  ;  and,  unexpectedly,  under  vari- 
ous excuses,  Maitland  and  Grange  continued  obstinate. 
Their  pretended  reason  was  the  want  of  sufficient  se- 
curity for  their  own  lives  and  estates  ;  but  money  com- 
ing from  France  to  them  was  continually  intercepted, 
and  letters  telling  them  that  they  should  be  relieved  if 
they  could  hold  out  till  summer.^ 

Maitland  was  satisfied  that  the  Castle  could  never 
be  taken  by  the  Scots ;  that,  however  Elizabeth  might 
threaten,  she  would  never  really  interfere,  and  that  he 
was  still  safe  in  holding  out. 

Illusion  and  obstinacy  must  have  combined  to  blind 
his  otherwise  clear  intelligence  ;  but  it  will  be  perceived 
that  he  really  did  see  deeply  into  the  Queen  of  Eng- 
land's character,  and  that  it  was  not  without  reason 
that  he  built  hopes  upon  her  reluctance  to  extinguish 
the  remains  of  jNlary  Stuart's  party. 

Immediately  after  the  general  pacification,  Morton 
„    ^  sent  to  Grange  to  require  him  to  submit  with 

March.  o  M 

the  rest,  and  to  trouble  Scotland  no  further. 
Grange  answered  (or  Maitland,  for  Grange  M'as  clay  in 
his  hands)  that  he  would  acknowledge  the  King,  if  he 
might  keep  the  Castle  ;  and  that  he  would  bind  him- 
self to  introduce  no  foreign  troops,  if  Elizabeth  would 
undertake  that  "  they  should  enjoy  their  fives,  lands, 
rooms,  offices,  and  honours,"  "  and  would  give  them 
money  to  pay  their  debts."  ^ 

Morton  at  once  said  that  he  would  listen  to  no  such 
conditions.  "  There  could  be  no  sound  peace  "  while 
the  Castle  was  independent  of  his  authority,  nor  could 
Grange,  or  Maitland,  or  any  other  subject  of  the 
Scotch,  be  permitted  to  make  stipulations  with  the  sov- 
ereign of  another  country. 

1  Killegrew  to  Sir  T.  Smith,  February  26 :  MSS.  Scotland. 

2  Answer  of  Lidington  and  Grange,  March  2:   MS.  Ibid. 


1&T3.]  The  Reign  of  Elizabeth.  463 

The  Castle  party  still  persisted,  declaring  that  if  their 
proposals  were  refused  they  were  "■  prepared  for  all  ex- 
tremities." The  Regent,  therefore,  requested  that  a 
force  should  be  sent  from  England  at  once  to  bring 
them  to  reason  ;  and  neither  he  himself,  nor  Killegrew, 
nor  the  officers  at  Berwick,  anticipated  that  Elizabeth 
would  make  further  difficulty.  At  last  she  was  sup- 
posed to  be  convinced  that  the  thing  must  be  done. 
Sir  William  Drury  wrote  to  Burghley  for  instructions, 
intimating  that  the  sooner  the  English  troops  moved 
forward  the  better.  "  The  inconstancy  of  that  nation 
was  well  known,"  and  delay  would  be  dangerous.^ 
Morton,  in  talking  over  the  state  of  the  country  with 
the  English  Ambassador,  confined  himself  to  consider- 
ing the  measures  which  should  be  taken  after  the  re- 
duction of  the  Castle,  assuming,  as  a  matter  of  course, 
that  it  was  really  to  be  reduced.  Both  he  and  Kille- 
grew were  under  an  impression  still,  that  Elizabeth 
would  consider  her  assistance  well  repaid  if  she  could 
be  relieved  of  the  Scottish  Queen. ^ 

But  Elizabeth,  reassured  by  her  treaty  Avith  S])ain, 
was  far  away  from  the  thoughts  into  which  she  had 
been  frightened  by  the  massacre  in  Paris,  and  was  en- 
deavouring, as  usual,  to  forget  the  engagements  into 
which  she  had  been  forced  with  Morton.  She  felt  that 
the  fall  of  the  Castle  would  be  a  final  end  of  the  schemes 
which  she  had  so  long  fostered.  She  would  not  now 
give  up  tl'.e  Queen  of  Scots  to  be  executed,  even  if  the 
Scots    would  consent    to   execute  her.     If  tiie  King's 

1  Drury  to  KurKlilcy,  March  7:   M^S.  Srollftml. 

2  Morton  .said  lliat  "as  loiif^  as  the  Scotch  tiueen  lived  there  would  be 
trouble,  treason,  and  mischief."  Killegrew  answered  "  that  he  could  help 
that."  Morton  rcj)li(;d,  "  that  when  the  Castle  was  taken,  at  the  next  Par- 
liament to  lie  holdeii  he  would  prov(!  the  noblemen  to  see  what  might  be 
done." —  Killegrew  to  Burghley,  March  4:  Mis.  Ibid. 


464  History  of  England.  [Ch.  xxiii. 

Government  were  firmly  and  completely  established, 
the  last  hope  of  a  "  composition  "  would  be  gone,  and 
Mary  Stuart  would  remain  a  burden  on  her  own  hands 
till  she  died.  She  had  promised  assistance,  but  when 
it  came  to  the  point  she  would  not  give  it.  She  hag- 
gled about  terms.  She  said  if  she  sent  troops  the 
Regent  must  pay  for  them,  when  she  knew  that  the 
Regent  could  scarcely  keep  his  household  at  Dalkeith 
from  starving.  The  next  post  brought  word  that  she 
"  had  stayed  her  purpose,"  and  "  that  no  force  was  to 
be  sent."  The  terms  offered  by  the  Castle  were  rea- 
sonable, and  the  Regent  had  no  sufficient  ground  to 
reject  them. 

Sir  Henry  Killegrew  simply  dared  not  give  these 
messages.  He  told  Burghley  plainly  that  if  the  Queen 
broke  her  promise  this  time,  "  there  would  be  foreign 
interference,  with  great  danger  to  herself  and  her  own 
realm."  He  knew,  from  an  authority  which  it  was  im- 
possible to  doubt,  that  "  the  offers  from  the  Castle  were 
all  dissimulation."  "  They  were  made  only  because 
they  could  not  be  granted."  "  Maitland,  by  his  wit, 
enchanted  Grange,  saying  that  for  all  Lord  Burghley's 
letters,  her  Majesty  would  never  send  in  her  forces, 
but  only  boast  them ;  and  that  for  all  Scotland  could 
do  they  would  keep  the  Castle  till  France  came  in." 
These  were  Maitland''^'  very  words.  Killegrew  had 
seen  them  in  liis  own  liPidwriting.  If  the  Queen  was 
really  "  resolved  to  stop  her  aid,"  he  could  only  say, 
"  God's  will  be  done  ;  "  but,  "  if  the  Castle  was  not 
recovered,  and  that  with  expedition,  he  saw  the  begin- 
ning of  sorrows,  and  her  Majesty's  peaceable  reign  de- 
caying, as  it  were,  in  post."  "  He  would  rather  go  to 
Rome  barefoot  than  deliver  that  answer  to  the  Regent. 
If  her  Majesty  could  be    brought  no   farther,  and  if 


1573.]  The  Reign  of  Elizabeth.  465 

there  was  no  good  meaning  to  provide  in  the  cause," 
he  begged  that  he  might  be  recalled  immediately,  "  or 
he  would  come  home  with  no  good  news."  ^ 

Elizabeth  w^as  so  far  affected  by  this  letter  that  she 
lowered  her  tone.  She  bade  Killegrew  tell  Morton 
that  many  heavy  demands  had  been  recently  made 
upon  her  ;  she  was  in  real  difficulties,  "  and  if  he  could 
spare  her  the  additional  expense,  it  would  be  thank- 
fully taken." 

To  this  Morton  answered  briefly  that  Lady  Mar  and 
the  young  Earl  "being  Papists,"  were  already  in 
treaty  with  the  French  to  place  the  King  in  their 
hands.  He  was  afraid  to  remove  him  from  their 
charge,  because  there  was  no  other  "  place  of  assur- 
ance "  in  which  he  could  keep  him  ;  nor  while  the 
Castle  of  Edinburgh  was  held  by  Grange  "  did  he  dare 
ofiend  them  of  Stirling."  He  had  offered  Grange 
priories,  bishoprics,  estates,  anything  which  he  might 
desire  in  exchange  for  the  Castle,  but  to  no  purpose  — 
he  insisted  upon  holding  it. 

Killegrew  suggested  that  if  Grange  would  give  se- 
curities for  his  good  beha-viour,  he  might  be  allowed 
his  way.  "  With  this,"  wi'ote  the  Ambassador,  "  the 
Regent  was  amazed  ;  "  "  he  said  that  though  he  would 
be  so  mad  yet  the  nobility  would  never  grant  there- 
unto ;  it  was  a  thing  not  to  be  thought  of,  and  he  de- 
sired me  not  to  ask  it  again  ;  he  was  already  in  danger 
for  yielding  so  far ;  to  allow  more  would  cause  so  much 
offence  as  would  endanger  the  King's  estate  and  his 
own  life."  ^ 

Once  more  Errington  was  sent  to  the  Castle  ;  every 
security  was  offered  short  of  leaving  Grange  in  pos- 

1  Killegrew  to  Biirghley,  March  9 :  MSS.  Scotland. 

2  Same  to  the  same,  March  27 :  MS.  Ibid. 
VOI-.  X.  30 


466  History  of  England.  [Ch.  xxiii. 

session  of  it,  "  everything,"  said  Killegrew,  "  that  I 
could  ask  for  my  own  father  if  he  were  there  ;  "  but 
evasive  answers  came  back  which  meant  nothing, 
while  Errin^ton  observed  that  the  garrison  had  been 
busy  on  the  fortifications ;  "  the  place  was  stronger  by 
ten  lasts  of  powder  and  a  hundred  men  than  when  he 
had  seen  it  before ;  the  men  looking  ill  from  overwork- 
ing and  watching,"  but  all  seemingly  resolute,  with 
provisions  to  last  till  Michaelmas,  and  expecting  help 
from  France  before  midsummer. 

Conscious  at  last  that  words  would  serve  her  no 
longer,  that  if  she  faltered  longer  she  would  lose  every 
friend  that  she  possessed  in  Scotland — conscious,  at 
all  events,  that  if  the  French  did  come  the  conse- 
quences might  be  irreparable,  Elizabeth  now  agreed  to 
do  what  Sussex  had  urged  upon  her  after  the  rebellion 
of  Yorkshire,  and  which,  had  she  done  it  then,  would 
have  saved  Scotland  all  its  misery.  To  this  it  had 
come  at  last ;  and  the  shuffling,  and  the  falsehood,  and 
the  broken  promises  had  been  throwui  away.  A  few 
plain  words  would  have  sufficed  then  to  annihilate  the 
hopes  of  the  party  of  the  Queen  of  Scots,  which  Eliz- 
abeth herself  had  created,  and  had  kept  alive  by  her 
uncertainty.  She  had  encouraged  them  to  take  arms ; 
she  had  led  them  to  believe  that  in  heart  she  was 
on  the  Queen  of  Scots'  side  ;  and  in  the  end,  after  the 
Regent  had  been  murdered,  and  her  true  friends 
brought  to  the  edge  of  ruin,  after  having  brought  her 
own  throne  in  danger,  and  imperilled  the  very  Refor- 
mation itself,  her  diplomacy  broke  down,  and  she  was 
obliged  to  trample  out  the  sparks  with  her  own  feet 
which  she  and  only  she  had  kindled. 

The  necessary  orders  went  down  to  Berwick. 
Heavy  siege    guns  —  "  her  Majesty's   peace-makers," 


1573.]  TJie  Reign  of  Elizabeth.  467 

as  Sir  Thomas  Smith  called  them  —  were  sent  round 
to    Leith.     Drury,  who  was  to  conduct  the 
siege,    went    forward    with   a   party    of  pio- 
neers to  determine  the  position  of  the  batteries,  and 
five  hundred  Scotch  labourers  were  set  to  work  at  the 
trenches. 

Edinburgh  Castle  stands  on  the  extreme  end  of  a 
long  ridge  of  rock,  which  rising  gradually  for  three 
quarters  of  a  mile  terminates  in  a  broken  area  several 
acres  in  extent,  connected  with  the  ascending  slope  by 
a  narrow  neck,  and  everywhere  else  falling  off  in  prec- 
ipices 200  feet  deep.  The  ridge  itself  runs  nearly 
east  and  west.  The  High  Street  of  the  Old  Town 
follows  the  line  of  the  crest,  rising  from  Holyrood  and 
the  Canongate  to  what  is  now  the  parade  ground  in 
front  of  the  Castle.  At  the  time  of  the  siege  the  de- 
fences  extended  beyond  the  present  moat  in  a  project- 
ing work  then  called  the  Spur,  the  angle  of  which  was 
within  200  feet  of  the  opening  of  the  street.  Through 
this  lay  the  ordinary  entrance  from  the  town  to  the 
Castle,  the  road  leading  circuitously  upwards  through 
a  series  of  intricate  turnpikes  and  passages  to  St.  Mar- 
garet's Chapel  and  the  old  Palace  on  the  summit,  over- 
hangino;  the  Lawn  Market.  The  area  enclosed  within 
the  fortifications  was  a  rude  oval,  the  sides  for  four- 
fifths  of  the  circuit  being  inaccessible  everywhere  ex- 
cept to  practised  climbers,  and  made  impossible  to 
them  by  the  faintest  resistance  from  above. 

The  attack  of  such  a  place  by  artillery  was  a  novel 
experiment.  The  main  assault  could  only  be  made  at 
the  Sj)ur,  which  was  defended  by  tiers  of  guns  rising 
one  above  the  other.  The  trenches  for  the  principal 
battery  were  dug  at  the  head  of  the  High  Street,  and 
a  high  bank  of  sand  was  thrown  up  behind  them,  to 


468  History  of  England.  [Ch.  xxiii. 

cover  the  inhabitants  from  the  Castle  shot.  A  second 
smaller  battery  was  to  be  placed  on  the  south,  where 
Heriot's  Hospital  now  stands  ;  two  more  towards  the 
west  and  northwest,  and  a  fifth  about  the  middle  of 
Princes  Street.  The  object  was  to  leave  no  part  of 
the  place  unsearched  by  the  fire,  and  especially  to 
cover  the  approaches  to  the  principal  water-spring, 
which  was  on  the  edge  of  the  east  bastion,  and  not 
protected  by  the  walls. 

The  garrison  did  not  allow  the  works  to  proceed 
without  interruption.  They  fired  furiously  on  the 
trenching  parties  at  the  head  of  the  street.  They 
made  sorties  out  of  the  Spur,  and  flung  wild-fire 
among  them,  or  sprang  in  upon  them  sword  in  hand ; 
but  they  did  no  great  damage  ;  and  as  it  became  evi- 
dent that  the  English  meant  seriously  after  all,  their 
hearts  began  to  sink.  Maitland,  who  had  hitherto 
been  a  god  among  them,  lost  their  confidence  ;  and 
one  of  the  castle  soldiers  flung  a  glove  over  the  cliff", 
with  a  note  inside  it,  to  ask  if  there  was  hope  for  their 
lives. 

On  the  17th  of  April  the  English  army  arrived  from 
Berwick.  On  the  25th  the  siege  guns  were  landed 
at  Leith  ;  and  Killegrew,  who  had  assured  Burghley 
that  Maitland  "would  not  abide  the  cannon,"  "was 
at  his  wits'  end,"  as  he  said,  to  comprehend  his  obsti- 
nacy. But  the  statesman  who  had  long  ruled  supreme 
in  Scottish  counsels  was  now  too  proud  to  yield.  He 
fed  the  garrison  with  hopes  that  the  French  fleet  might 
be  looked  for  any  day  in  the  Forth ;  and  when  Morton 
and  Drury,  for  the  last  time,  summoned  the  Castle  to 
surrender.  Grange  hung  out  Mary  Stuart's  banner  on 
the  rock  from  which  Mons  Meo;  looks  down  over  Ed- 
inburgh,  and  Meg  herself,  and  fifty  other  guns,  replied 
for  him  with  cannon-balls. 


1573.]  The  Reign  of  Elizabeth.  469 

The  hardness  of  the  rock  made  the  trenching  a  long 
operation.  To  save  expense,  too  small  a  num- 
ber of  pioneers  had  been  employed  ;  and 
three  weeks  had  still  to  pass  before  the  Enghsh  bat- 
teries were  completed.  Drury  himself,  and  all  his 
officers,  handled  spade  and  pickaxe.  On  the  evening 
of  the  11th  of  May,  a  volunteer  arrived,  in  the  per- 
son of  Thomas  Cecil,  Lord  Burghley's  eldest  son,  who 
had  come,  as  he  said,  without  commission  from  his 
father,  to  learn  to  be  a  soldier. 

On  the  17th  of  May  the  guns  in  front  of  the  Spur 
were  in  position.  Attempts  had  been  made  to  frighten 
the  English  with  stoi'ies  of  intended  treachery.  "  The 
sky  may  fall,  and  we  shall  catch  larks,"  was  the  con- 
fident answer  of  Killegrev/.  Scots  and  Englishmen 
stood  arm  in  arm  together,  intending  only  "  to  race 
which  should  be  foremost  when  it  came  to  the  assault." 
On  the  20th  the  four  remaining  batteries  were  ready. 
On  tlie  21st  they  opened  fire  ;  and  as  the  shot  told  and 
the  stones  began  to  fly,  and  Meg,  though  she  could 
throw  a  sranite  ball  into  the  Forth,  could  not  silence 
Drury's  artillery,  a  long  wild  wail  of  despair  was 
heard  to  rise  behind  the  battlements.  First  the  bas- 
tion fell  above  St.  Cuthbert's  Church,  and  then  David's 
Tower  fell,  carrying  the  red  standard  among  its  ruins. 
Down  on  all  sides  came  bulwark  and  turret,  guns, 
platforms,  carriages,  rushing  amidst  dust  clouds  over 
the  cliffs.  The  College  students  had  heard  Knox  say 
that  the  walls  at  the  end  would  be  as  sand  ;  and  now, 
"  gaeing  up  to  watch  the  firing,  they  saw  the  Castle 
rinning  like  a  sandy  brae."^ 

The  supply  of  water  was  cut  short  after    the  first 
day's  work.     One  precious  well  was  choked  with  rub- 
1  Diary  of  James  Melville. 


470  History  of  England.  [Ch.  xxm. 

bish,  another  was  commanded  by  the  fire  ;  and  the 
men  were  reduced  to  an  allowance  of  a  pint  a  day. 
A  messenger  from  France  attempted  to  enter,  who  had 
been  sent  to  encourage  the  defenders  to  hold  out ;  but 
"  he  was  caught  and  hanged  for  his  pains."  The  bom- 
bardment continued  for  five  days,  and  in  that  time 
three  thousand  balls  were  thrown  into  the  Castle  —  a 
feat  till  then  unapproached  in  the  practice  of  artillery. 
On  the  27th  a  flag  of  truce  was  hung  out,  and  Sir 
Robert  Melville  came  down  to  "  parley."  He  tried  to 
create  a  jealousy  by  desiring  to  treat  alone  with  the 
English,  but  Drury  refused  to  take  part  in  any  confer- 
ence from  which  the  Regent  was  excluded.  Melville 
then  demanded  security  that  the  lives  and  properties 
of  every  one  in  the  Castle  should  be  safe.  Lord  Hume 
and  Maitland  required  permission  to  reside  in  England, 
and  Grange  either  to  remain  in  Scotland  or  go  abroad, 
as  he  pleased.  The  Countess  of  Argyle,  the  Earl's 
divorced  wife,  who  had  taken  refuge  with  them,  stipu- 
lated also  that  "  she  might  not  be  delivered  into  her 
husband's  hands." 

Morton  at  once  declined  to  consent  to  any  such 
terms.  At  dawn  next  morning  a  false  at- 
tack was  made  at  the  back  of  the  Castle, 
while  two  divisions  of  Scots  and  English  stormed  and 
carried  the  Spur.  The  Scots  were  led  by  Crawford 
of  Jordanhill,  the  hero  of  Dumbarton.  The  loss  was 
heavy  for  the  numbers  engaged.  Twenty  English 
and  Scots  were  killed  at  the  Spur,  and  eight  more  on 
the  precipices  behind  ;  but  the  work  was  done  —  done 
more  eflFectively  than  Drury  knew  at  the  time,  for  the 
last  spring  of  water  on  which  the  garrison  depended 
was  in  the  part  of  the  fortifications  which  had  been 
taken.     At  the  beginning  there  were  but  a  hundred 


1573.]  The  Reign  of  Elizabeth.  471 

and  sixty  men  in  the  Castle.  Of  these  some  were 
killed,  some  wounded,  some  ill,  and  all  "  outwearied, 
having  no  time  to  take  rest."  ^  "  Some  were  no  sol- 
diers, and  had  come  in  for  friendship,"  and  some  had 
no  sympathy  with  the  cause  for  which  they  were  fight- 
ing. Nothing  remained  but  to  accept  whatever  con- 
ditions Morton  would  grant.  A  flag  of  truce  again 
appeared.  Grange  and  Melville  were  lowered  down 
by  cords  over  the  inner  wall,  and,  putting  a  bold  face 
on  their  position,  redemanded  what  Melville  had  asked 
the  day  before.  Both  they  and  Maitland  might  then 
have  obtained  their  lives.  Now  the  Regent  was  ready 
to  let  the  garrison  go  where  they  pleased,  taking  their 
own  property  with  them,  but  he  insisted  that  Grange, 
Maitland,  Melville,  Hume,  and  four  others,  should 
surrender  unconditionall}^^  to  be  dealt  with  as  the 
Queen  of  England  should  advise. 

They  were  allowed  till  nine  o'clock  in  the  evening 
to  consider.  Grange  was  a  soldier,  and  preferred  to 
die  sword  in  hand ;  and  the  others  who  were  excepted 
in  tlie  pardon  expected  no  mercy,  and  desired  to  fight 
to  the  last.  But  the  men  had  no  wish  to  sacrifice 
their  own  lives.  They  had  long  loved  Grange,  but 
they  hated  Maitland  as  the  cause  of  all  their  troubles, 
and  threatened  to  hang  him  over  the  walls.  Then 
all  was  over.  Before  sunset  Edinburgh  Castle  was  in 
the  hands  of  the  Regent,  and  Mary  Stuart's  cause  was 
extinguished  in  Scotland  forever.^ 

So  strange  had  been  the  revolutions  of  parties,  that 
the  last  maintainers  of  that  cause  were  men  who  had 


1  Causes  of  the  surrender  of  the  Castle,  May  28 :  il/S.S.  Scotland. 

2  Conditions  offered  by  the  Uegent,  May  28:  MS.  Ibid. 

8  The  account  of  the  siege  is  taken  from  the  despatches  of  Drury  and 
Killegrew  in  the  Scotch  and  Border  MSS. 


472  Sistory  of  England.  [Ch.  xxiii. 

long  stood  at  Murray's  side,  and  had  long  been  the 
keenest  promoters  of  the  Reformation  and  the  English 
alliance.  Grange  had  begun  his  public  life  on  the 
memorable  morning  at  St.  Andrew's  when  wild  justice 
was  done  upon  the  Cardinal.  Maitland  had  been 
Cecil's  pupil,  the  adviser  of  the  marriage  between 
Elizabeth  and  Arran,  which  would  have  dispossessed 
his  mistress  of  her  throne  ;  and  Hume  did  more  than 
any  one  to  help  Murray  to  win  the  Battle  of  Langside. 
But  Maitland,  who  looked  on  God  as  a  "  nursery 
bogle,"  and  among  his  splendid  qualities  wanted  faith 
in  all  great  principles,  had  spun  a  diplomatic  net  about 
himself  which  at  last  was  too  strong  for  him  to  break  ; 
and  Hume  and  Grange,  pursuing  the  will-of-the-wisp 
of  Scottish  patriotism,  followed  him  to  their  own  ruin 
in  a  blind  belief  in  his  infallibility. 

It  was  over  at  last  —  over  in  shame  and  diso-race. 
In  consideration  of  his  illness  and  of  Eliza- 
beth's known  regard  for  him,  Killegrew  in- 
tended to  have  received  Maitland  as  his  own  guest  ; 
but  the  rage  of  the  people  against  him  when  he  was 
brought  down  out  of  the  Castle  was  so  violent  that  he 
was  in  danger  of  being  torn  in  pieces,  and  he  was  sent 
for  his  own  safety  under  a  strong  guard  to  Drury's 
quarters  at  Leith.^  His  fate  and  that  of  the  otliers 
were  referred  to  Elizabeth's  consideration  ;  but  a  let- 
ter from  Alva  was  found  in  the  Castle  which  showed 
how  deeply  they  had  been  implicated  in  the  late  con- 
spiracies, and,  in  forwarding  it  to  Burghley,  Killegrew 
was  unable  to  advise  that  either  he  or  Grange  or 
Hume  should  be  spared.  Maitland  had  burnt  the 
greater  part  of  his  correspondence  on  the  last  night 
of  the  siege ;  but  this  letter,  which  remained,  and 
1  Drury  to  Cecil,  June  1. 


1573.]  The  Reign  of  Elizabeth.  473 

others  of  equal  importance  from  France,  removed  the 
last  traces  of  uncertainty,  if  uncertainty  remained,  as 
to  the  real  meanino;  of  the  long  and  obstinate  resistance 
of  the  Castle.  "  The  Edinburgh  ministers  preached 
daily  that  God's  plague  would  rest  on  such  as  should 
pronounce  favour  for  traitors.  The  unthankfullest 
thing  which  could  come  from  England  would  be  a  suit 
for  suspending  the  execution."  And  Killegrew's  own 
opinion  was  "  that  they  were  fitter  for  God  than  for 
the  world."  i 

Elizabeth,  who  could  never  bring  herself  without 
reluctance  to  consent  to  executions,  after  thanking 
Drury  for  his  services,  regretted  that  she  should  be 
called  on  to  express  an  opinion  "  for  the  punishment 
of  offences  done  in  another  Prince's  Kingdom  ; "  but 
since  the  fate  of  the  prisoners  was  referred  to  her,  she 
said  she  must  have  "  particulars  in  writing  of  the 
quantity  and  quality  of  the  charges  against  them ;  " 
and  she  desired  Killegrew  to  see  them  "  lodged " 
meanwhile  "  where  they  should  be  in  no  danger  of 
murder  from  their  mortal  enemies."  ^  She  commended 
Ladv  Argyle  to  the  cai*e  of  Morton.  She  was  "  loath," 
as  she  said,  "  to  interfere  between  husband  and  wife," 
but  she  feared  if  the  Countess  was  carried  off  to  In- 
verary  she  might  come  to  a  hard  end  there.  Eliza- 
beth intended  clearly  to  save  them  all  if  she  could ; 
but  before  her  letters  reached  Scotland  one,  at  least, 
was  beyond  the  reach  of  her  protection  or  of  Morton's 
venireance.  Eleven  davs  after  the  surrender  Mailland 
died,  and  it  was  generally  believed  that,  to  save  him- 
self from  the  ignominy  of  the  scaffold,  he  had  taken 

1  Killegrew  to  Burghley,  June  5 :  MSS.  Conway. 

2  Elizabeth  to  Killegrew,  June  8;  Elizabeth  to  Morton,  June  9:  MS. 
Ibid. 


474  History  of  England.  [Ch.  xxiil. 

poison.^  He  was  constitutionally  more  likely  than  any 
of  his  contemporaries  to  have  taken  refuge  in  a  Ro- 
man death ;  but  although  the  particular  letter  in 
which  Sir  William  Drury  describes  his  end  is  not  pre- 
served,^ yet  Killegrew  mentioned  it  two  days  after  in  a 
tone  in  which  he  would  hardly  have  spoken  of  some- 
thing so  unusual  as  suicide,  and  the  popular  rumour 
was  probably  unfounded.  "  Lidington,"  wrote  Lord 
Burghley,  "is  dead  from  his  natural  sickness,  being 
also  stricken  with  great  melancholy,  which  he  con- 
ceived of  the  hatred  that  he  did  see  all  his  countrymen 
bear  towards  him  since  he  came  out  of  the  Castle,  in 
such  sort  as  Sir  William  Drury  was  forced  to  keep  a 
strong  guard  to  save  him  in  his  own  lodging  from  the 
fury  of  the  people."  ^ 

His  companions  remained  in  confinement  at  Holy- 
rood  in  Morton's  sole  charge.  The  English  guns  were 
reshipped  ;  the  shot  were  gathered  up  again  ;  a  baw- 
bee being  paid  for  every  bullet  which  was  brought  in.* 
Sir  William  Drury  led  back  his  troops  to  Berwick,  and 
Killegrew  carried  to  London  an  intimation  that  Morton 
was  ready  now  to  undertake  the  dispatch  of  Mary 
Stuart.^ 

1  Memoirs  of  Sir  James  Melville. 

2  Killegrew  saj's,  in  a  letter  of  the  13th  of  June  to  Sir  T.  Smith,  "  Of 
Lidington's  death  my  Lord  General  did  advertise."  —  MSS.  Conway. 

3  Burghley  to  the  Earl  of  Shrewsbury,  June  14:  Illustrations  of  English 
History,  Vol.  II. 

4  Drury-  to  Burghley,  June  5:  MSS.  Scotland. 

5  "  I  shall  bring  with  me  some  articles  touching  the  League,  and  I  hope 
somewhat  touching  the  great  matter  whereof  I  thought  good  to  forewarn 
your  Honour."  —  Killegrew  to  Burghley,  June  26. 

"  I  have  thought  good  to  put  in  memory  how  the  ground  of  the  trouble 
yet  remains  in  her  Majesty's  hands  and  power,  whereunto  I  doubt  not  but 
her  Highness  will  put  order  when  she  finds  time ;  and  thereanent  I  must 
leave  to  be  further  curious  till  I  receive  knowledge  of  her  Majesty's 
pleasure." 

On  the  margin  opposite  this  passage  there  stands,  in  Burghley's  hand, 


1573.]  Tlie  Reign  of  Elizaheth.  475 

Mr,  Thomas  Cecil,  after  his  lesson  in  the  wars,  went 
back  to  the  great  house  at  Burghley  ;  ^  and  "  religion" 
in  Scotland  began  to  prosper  marvellously.  The  long 
fever  of  uncertainty  was  past.  The  few  recusant  Pa- 
pists came  in,  and  made  their  peace  ;  and  it  remained 
only  for  justice  to  be  executed  upon  one  who,  next  to 
Maitland,  was  responsible  for  all  the  blood  that  had 
been  shed.  The  letters  found  in  the  Castle,  when 
Elizabeth  saw  them,  deprived  her  of  an  excuse  for  in- 
terfering ;  Morton  told  Burghley  that  "  the  future 
quiet  of  Scotland  depended  on  her  consent ; "  and 
she  felt  that  she  had  trifled  long  enough,  and  that 
she  must  now  leave  the  Regent  to  do  what  he  thought 
best. 

The  most  passionate  intercessions  were  made  by 
others  for  Grange's  life.  His  relations  offered  any 
security  which  Morton  might  desire,  that  he  should 
cause  no  more  trouble.     "  His  hail  heritage,  and  the 

"The  removing  of  the  Bosom  Serpent."  —  Morton  to  Burghley,  June  26: 
3ISS.  Scotland. 

1  A  fact  memorable  only  as  having  furnished  occasion  for  the  Steward 
there  to  write  a  letter  to  Lord  Burghley,  in  which  we  catch  a  glimpse  worth 
obsen-ing  of  old  Mrs.  Cecil :  — 

"  My  duty  to  your  Honour, —  Yesternight,  about  three  of  the  clock,  Mr. 
Thomas  Cecil  came  home  well  and  merrj-,  God  be  thanked ;  and  my  Mis- 
tress, your  mother,  was  come  to  Burghley  two  hours  before  him.  The 
gown  that  you  would  make  it  must  be  for  everj'  day;  and  yet  because  it 
comes  from  you,  except  you  write  her  to  the  contrary,  she  will  make  it 
her  holiday  gown,  whereof  she  hath  great  store  already,  both  of  silk  and 
cloth.  But  I  think,  Sir,  if  you  make  her  one  of  cloth  with  some  velvet 
upon  it,  with  your  letters  to  desire  her  for  your  sake  to  wear  it  daily,  she 
would  accustom  herself  with  it,  so  as  she  would  forget  to  go  any  longer  in 
such  base  ajiparel  as  siie  hath  used  to  have  a  delight  in,  wliicii  is  too  mean 
for  one  of  a  lower  state  than  she  is  of.  She  likes  well  of  all  things  as  yet; 
but  for  that  there  is  not  one  that  is  in  the  ministry  to  do  service  daily  there, 
which  she  much  desires,  that  she  may  serve  Cod  twice  a  day;  you  may 
have  at  your  ])leasure  from  Caiiibriilge  sonic  one  that,  from  lack  of  exhibi- 
tion, would  be  glad  for  a  year  or  two  to  do  service  tlure  daily,  which  would 
much  content  her."  —  Peter  Kemp  to  Lord  Burghley,  Juno  7:  MSS.  Uai- 
Jield. 


476  History  of  England,  [Ch.  xxm. 

band  of  manrent  of  all  his  friends,"  was  placed  at  Mor- 
ton's disposal,  if  only  his  life  could  be  spared.  But 
the  Regent,  "  considering  what  had  been  and  daily 
was  spoken  by  the  Preachers,  that  God's  plague  would 
not  cease  till  the  land  was  purged  of  blood  ;  "  consid- 
ering "  the  demands  of  those  who,  by  the  death  of 
their  friends,  the  destruction  of  their  houses,  the  taking 
away  of  their  goods,  could  not  be  satisfied  by  any  offer 
made  to  him  in  particular,"  "  deliberated  to  let  justice 
proceed." ^ 

Thus  it  was  that  on  the  3d  of  August  the  second 
Wallace,  as  Grange  had  fondly  called  himself, 
August.         ^^^  drawn  in  a  cart  from  Holyrood  to  the 
cross  in  the  High    Street.     David  Lindsay,  who  had 
carried   to  the   Castle  the  last  fruitless  message  from 
Knox,  attended    him  at   his  own  request.     The    first 
part  of  the  prophecy  had  been  but  too  well  fulfilled  ; 
the  words  had  now  become  precious  with  which  Knox 
had  received  his  answer  —  that  for  "the  body  there 
was  no  longer  hope,  but  that  there  was  mercy  for  the 
soul."     Grange  told  Lindsay  that,  when  the  moment 
came,  "  he  hoped  to  give  him  a  sign  of  that  assurance, 
according  to  the  speech  of  the  man  of  God."     He  was 
hung  with  his  face  looking  up  the  street  towards  the 
Castle.     It  was  four  in  the  afternoon,  and  the  August 
sun    shone  full  behind  him  ;    but,  as    the    cart    drove 
from  under  him,  the  body  swung  slowly  round.     The 
light    gleamed    upon   his   face.     He  raised   his  hands 
slowly,  dropped  them,  and  died.^ 

So  fell  the  curtain  upon  the  cause  of  Mary  Stuart  in 
Scotland.     Many  a  murderous  struggle  lay  yet  before 

1  Morton  to  Killegrew,  August  5 :  MSS.  Scotland. 

2  Diary  of  James  Mdville,  p.  35. 


1573.]  The  Reign  of  Elizabeth.  477 

the  people  there,  as  the  Prince  grew  to  manhood,  and 
became  the  plaything  of  fresh  intrigues;  but  never 
more  was  sword  drawn  there  to  brino;  back  the  mur- 
deress  of  Kirk-a-Field  to  the  throne  which  she  had  for- 
feited. 


ft 


478  History  of  England.  [Ch.  xxit, 


CHAPTER  XXIV. 

To  preserve  some  kind  of  clearness  in  a  narrative 
where  the  threads  are  so  many  and  so  confused,  I 
have  set  apart  the  liistory  of  Ireland  for  separate  treat- 
ment, although  the  condition  of  that  country  affected 
materially  the  action  of  Elizabeth's  Government,  and 
prevented  the  Queen  from  assuming  the  bolder  posi- 
tion which  circumstances  so  many  times  appeared  to 
thrust  upon  her.  What  the  Low  Countries  were  to 
Spain,  Ireland  was  to  England,  a  dependent  province 
occupied  by  a  population  alien  in  blood,  in  creed,  and 
in  temperament ;  the  vulnerable  point  where  foreign 
princes  were  sure  of  welcome  who  offered  to  assist  the 
people  in  shaking  off  their  oppressors.  Both  in  Lon- 
don and  Madrid  there  was  a  tacit  understanding  that 
if  Elizabeth  became  the  protectress  of  the  revolted 
Provinces,  Philip  would  send  an  army  to  Waterford  or 
Kinsale  ;  and  the  feeling  of  English  statesmen  was  rep- 
resented by  a  memorandum  of  Cecil's  that  "  it  was 
folly  to  lose  a  kingdom  in  possession  "  for  the  grandest 
of  uncertainties  elsewhere.  Cecil  indeed,  as  well  as 
every  other  minister  who  had  attempted  so  far  to  deal 
with  the  Irish  difficulty,  had  found  the  task  too  hard 
for  him.  The  "  kingdom  "  was  one  which  had  yielded 
no  fruit  to  its  owners  except  expense  and  perplexity ; 
and  the  qualities  in  the  people  from  which  alone  im- 
provement could  be  expected  were  terribly  slow  in 
appearing.     Nevertheless,  there  were  times  and  places 


1567.]  The  Reign  of  Elizabeth.  479 

where  happier  symptoms  prevented  absolute  despair. 
As  with  the  great  central  morasses  the  bog  in  some 
capricious  humour  for  a  while  recedes,  and  the  margin 
dries  and  meadow  grass  takes  the  place  of  the  rushes 
and  the  peat,  so  with  the  Irish  people  a  disposition  to 
industry  displaced  sometimes  for  brief  intervals  the 
usual  appetite  for  disorder,  and  the  administration 
would  flatter  itself  that  the  new  era  AA'as  commencinjx. 
Such  a  fallacious  period  succeeded  on  the  fall  of  Shan 
O'Neil,  and  in  the  harbour  towns  in  Cork,  Waterford, 
Youghal,  Limerick,  to  some  extent  even  in  Galway, 
trade  began  to  grow,  and  with  trade  a  sense  of  the 
value  of  order  and  law.  The  steady  hand  of  Sidney 
had  made  itself  felt  especially  in  the  South  ;  the  pre- 
tended right  of  the  chiefs  to  levy  tribute  on  the  citizens 
had  been  abolished  ;  and  for  a  circuit  of  a  few  miles 
about  the  walls  the  farmers  were  cultivatino;  the  srownd 
on  some  better  terms  than  as  being  sheep  to  be  period- 
ically shorn  by  the  O  or  Mac  of  the  adjoining  castle. 

"  God  be  praised,"  wrote  the  Mayor  of  Waterford  to 
Cecil,  "  the  poor  people  which  were  so  miserably  over- 
haled,  begin  to  savour  what  it  is  to  live  under  a  most 
worthy  prince,  by  whose  providence  they  are  of  slaves 
become  subjects,  having  felt  the  benefit  of  justice 
whereof  they  never  tasted  before,  such  was  the  tyranny 
of  their  Irish  lords.  Where  before  the  poor  people 
were  so  pitifully  oppressed  as  they  had  no  joy  of  their 
lives,  now  they  fall  to  such  plays  and  pastimes  as  the 
like  was  never  seen  in  Ireland ;  so  as  if  this  govern- 
ment continue  but  three  years  more,  they  doubt  not  to 
live  as  merrily  in  Ireland  as  they  do  in  the  very  heart 
of  England.  Lands  that  lay  of  long  time  waste,  and 
of  no  profit  to  the  owners,  are  now  inhabited  ;  and  that 
which   before  was   let  for  a  groat  now  yields  twelve 


480  History  of  England.  [Ch.  xxiv. 

pence.  The  honest  husbandman,  whom  coyn  and  liv- 
ery had  so  impoverished  that  he  was  fain  to  drive  away 
his  servants  and  family,  as  not  able  to  sustain  them, 
now  calleth  them  home  again,  and  retaineth  more ;  the 
idle  man  that  lived  before  upon  coyn  and  spoil,  now 
falleth  to  husbandry,  and  earneth  his  living  by  labour  ; 
and  where  before  there  was  so  little  manurance  and  so 
much  devouring  by  those  raveners  as  that  the  country 
folk  were  not  able  to  maintain  themselves  but  by  fetch- 
ing their  relief  of  grain  from  the  good  towns,  now  the 
country  is  so  replenished  that  they  come  daily  to  the 
market  to  sell  their  superfluous  store,  so  as  the  towns 
shall  not  need  from  henceforth  to  travel  beyond  the 
seas  for  their  provisions  as  they  have  in  times  past  been 
accustomed.  To  this  time  this  poor  country  had  in 
manner  no  feeling  of  good  order,  neither  knew  the  poor 
fools  God  nor  their  prince,  but  as  brute  beasts  lived 
under  the  miserable  yoke  of  their  ungodly  Irish  lords. 
Now,  God  be  praised,  the  world  is  otherwise  framed, 
for  they  consider  that  there  is  a  God,  and  under  Him 
a  most  worthy  prince,  by  whom  they  are  preserved  to 
live  in  better  estate  than  ever  their  ancestors  did."  ^ 

This  flourishing  description  did  not  continue  of  long 
application,  and  the  morass  soon  returned  to  its  ancient 
limits.  Nevertheless,  in  and  about  the  towns,  there 
was  a  certain  degree  of  enduring  industry,  and  the 
reader  will  be  interested  in  seeing  an  account  of  the 
same  part  of  the  island  which  was  drawn  up  a  year  or 
two  later  by  a  person  who  was  under  no  temptation  to 
exaggerate  either  the  virtues  or  the  vices  of  the  Irish 
race.  Philip  II.,  finding  himself  besieged  by  the  en- 
treaties of  the  Irish  bishops  and  chiefs  to  come  to  their 
rescue,   and  having  but   a  vague  conception  of  the 

1  George  Wise  to  Cecil,  June  20, 1567 :  MSS.  Ireland. 


1567.]  Tlie  Reign  of  Elizabeth.  481 

country  of  which  he  had  once  been  titular  sovereio;n,^ 
sent  an  emissary  to  examine  into  the  capabihties  and 
condition  of  the  people.  The  following  extract  contains 
the  more  curious  parts  of  the  report  which  was  brought 
back  to  him  :  — 

"  Waterfbrd,"  says  Diego  Ortiz,  "  contains  nearly  a 
thousand  houses.  It  is  surrounded  by  a  stone  wall, 
something  less  than  a  mile  in  circumference,  with  sev- 
enteen  towers,  and  cannon  on  them  to  keep  off  the 
savages.  It  is  the  richest  town  in  Ireland,  after  Dub- 
lin, and  vessels  of  from  three  to  four  hundred  tons  lie 
at  the  quays  inside  the  fortifications.  The  trade  of 
the  port  is  with  Gallicia,  Portugal,  Andalusia,  and 
Biscay,  where  they  send  fish,  hides,  salt  meat,  and,  at 
times,  wheat  and  barley.  The  towns  control  the  ad- 
joining country,  for  the  people  depend  on  them  to 
buy  such  things  as  they  need,  and  to  dispose  of  their 
flocks  and  wool.  As  a  nation,  the  Irish  are  most  im- 
provident. They  live  almost  wholly  on  meat,  and  use 
but  httle  bread. ^  The  fault  is  not  with  the  land  :  it 
is  extremely  fertile,  and  if  properly  cultivated  would 
produce    all    that   Spain  produces,    except    olives    and 

1  Philip  has  left  on  record  an  amusing  illustration  of  his  ignorance. 
Don  Guerau  in  one  of  his  despatches  spoke  of  Waterf'ord  as  a  desirable  post 
of  occupation  for  a  Spanish  force,  and  seemed  to  describe  it  as  twelve 
miles  from  London  —  doce  millas  de  Londres.  The  mistake  probaljly  arose 
in  the  decipher,  but  Pliilip  gravely  wrote  on  the  margin,  "  No  entiendo 
donde  es  este  puerto,  que  en  decir  que  es  doce  millas  de  Londres  parece 
que  es  en  Inglaterra,  y  por  otras  cosas  en  Irlanda.  No  se  si  el  Duqne  de 
Feria  sabia  algo  de  este  puerto."  — Descifrada  de  G.  de  Espes,  xiv.  Juuio 
15G9 :  MS.  Simancas. 

2  "  Comiendo  mucho  came  y  poco  pan."  The  fact  of  a  meat  diet  being 
usual  in  Ireland  is  confirmed  by  a  curious  complaint  of  Sir  John  Perrot, 
President  of  Munster,  who  accounted  for  the  excessive  mortality  in  the 
English  troops  by  saying  that  "  the  continued  eating  of  Iil'sIi  licef  had 
brought  many  of  them  to  the  flux."  —  Demand.s  of  the  President  of  Jlun- 
ster,  August  14,  1.571 :  3/.S'S.  Ireland. 

VOL.    X.  31 


482  History  of  England.  [Ch.  xxiv 

oranges;  but  the  people  are  lazy,  and  do  not  like 
work.i  What  four  men  sow,  a  hundred  come  to  reap  ; 
and  he  who  has  most  success  in  robbing  his  neighbours 
is  counted  most  a  man.  There  is  little  order  among 
them  beyond  the  jurisdiction  of  the  towns.  Every 
petty  gentleman  lives  in  a  stone  tower,  where  he 
gathers  into  his  service  all  the  rascals  of  the  neigh- 
bourhood ;  and  of  these  towers  there  is  an  infinite 
number." 

It  was  the  old  story,  seen  from  a  friendly  point  of 
view.  Two  solitary  virtues  only  Don  Diego  was  able 
to  find  —  constancy  to  the  Catholic  Church,  and  hatred 
of  the  English. 

"  They  all  look  to  Spain,"  he  said,  to  "  deliver  them 
from  English  tyranny,  to  save  their  souls,  and  give 
them  back  the  blessed  Mass.  The  Mass,  indeed,  they 
everywhere  still  use  in  their  own  houses.  In  Youghal 
there  are  yet  two  monasteries,  a  Franciscan  and  a 
Dominican.  The  friars  are  much  troubled  by  the 
English.  When  their  persecutors  are  in  the  neigh- 
bourhood, they  emigrate  to  the  mountains,  or  hide  in 
their  cellars  ;  when  the  coast  is  clear  again,  they  return 
to  their  houses.^  Everywhere,  both  in  the  cities  and 
in  the  country,  there  is  a  universal  desire  for  the  ap- 
pearance of  a  Spanish  armada  to  deliver  them  from 
slavery,  and  to  restore  their  churches  to  them.  There 
is  an  English  provei'b  in  use  among  them  wliich 
says,  — 

" '  He  who  would  England  win, 
In  Ireland  must  begin.'  " 

1  "  La  gente  es  muy  olgazana,  enemiga  de  trabajar." 

2  "  En  Youghal  hay  dos  monasteries  de  frailes,  uno  de  Dominicos  y  nno 
de  Franciscos.  Pasan  gran  trabajo  a  causa  de  los  Ingleses  que  pasan  por 
alii  que  los  persiguen.  Se  van  a  la  montaiia  6  se  esconden  en  la  tierra  y 
luego  vuelven  a  los  monasterios." 


1567.]  The  Reign  of  EUzaheth.  483 

The  English  Government  had  added  largely  to  their 
difficulties  by  attempting  to  force  the  Reformation  upon 
Ireland  while  its  political  and  social  condition  was  still 
unsettled.  Of  the  prelates  who  were  in  possession  of 
their  sees  at  Elizabeth's  accession,^  the  Archbishop  of 
Dublin,  who  had  changed  with  every  change,  undoubt- 
edly gave  his  countenance  to  the  revolution.  The 
Bishops  of  Meath  and  Kildare  refused,  and  were  de- 
prived ;  and  there  is  no  evidence  that  any  other  bishop 
in  all  Ireland  who  was  in  office  at  Queen  Mary's  death 
either  accepted  the  reformed  Prayer-book,  or  abjured 
the  authority  of  the  Pope.  But  for  the  question  of 
religion,  the  towns  would  have  been  loyal,  for  their 
prosperity  depended  upon  the  maintenance  of  order ; 
while  the  native  chiefs,  however  turbulent,  would 
never  have  seriously  desired  to  transfer  their  allegiance 
to  Spain,  for  Philip,  they  well  knew,  would  have  been 
as  intolerant   of  anarchy  as    the  English   Viceroy  at 

1  T  cannot  but  express  ni\' astonishment  at  a  proposition  maintained  by 
Bishop  Mant  and  others  that  the  whole  Hierarchy  of  Ireland  went  over  to 
the  Keformation  with  the  Government.  Dr.  Mant  discovers  that  the  Bishop 
of  Kildare  and  the  Bishop  of  Meatli  were  deprived  for  refusing  the  oath  of 
supremacv.  The  rest,  he  infers,  must  have  taken  the  oath  because  they 
remained  in  their  places.  The  Knfjflish  Government,  unfortunately  for 
themselves,  had  no  such  opportunity  as  Dr.  Mant's  argument  supposes  for 
the  exercise  of  their  authority.  The  Archbishop  of  Dublin,  the  Bishops  of 
Meath  and  Kildare,  were  alone  under  Knirlish  jurisdiction.  When  Adam 
Loftus  was  made  Archbishop  of  Armagh,  the  Primacy  became  titularly 
Protestant.  But  Loftus  resided  in  Dublin,  the  see  was  governed  b_v  a 
Bishop  in  communion  with  the  Pope,  and  the  latter,  and  not  tlie  former, 
was  regarded  in  Irelaml,  even  by  the  correspondents  of  the  English  Gov- 
ernment, as  the  lawful  possessor  of  the  see. 

In  a  survey  of  the  country  supplied  to  Cecil  in  1571,  after  death  and 
deprivation  had  enabled  the  Government  to  fill  several  sees  with  English 
nominees,  the  Anhbi-liops  of  Armagii,  Tuam,  and  Cashel,  with  almost 
every  one  of  the  Hish<)|)s  of  the  respective  provinces,  are  describeil  as 
CallwUci  et  Ornfuulerali. 

The  Archbishop  of  Dublin,  with  the  Bishops  of  Kildare,  Ossory,  and 
Ferns,  are  alone  reckoned  as  "  Protestantes." — .l/.S'N.  Irduml,  Hulls  llvitse. 


484  History  of  England.  [Cii.  xxiv. 

Dublin.  The  suppression  of  the  Catholic  services,  en- 
forced wherever  the  Enghsh  had  power,  and  hanging 
before  the  people  as  a  calamity  sure  to  follow  as  the 
limits  of  that  power  were  extended,  created  a  weight 
of  animosity  which  no  other  measure  could  have  pro- 
duced, and  alone,  perhaps,  made  the  problem  of  Irish 
administration  hopelessly  insoluble.  Notwithstanding 
the  fair  speeches  of  the  Mayor  of  Waterford,  neither 
that  city  nor  any  other  in  Ireland,  except  Dublin, 
would  receive  an  English  garrison  within  their  walls. 
When  they  admitted  the  English  Prayer-book,  it  was 
with  a  reluctance  which  was  nowhere  concealed.  A 
strong  fort,  armed  and  garrisoned,  stood  at  the  mouth 
of  Waterford  River,  but  it  was  held,  as  the  inhabitants 
significantly  pointed  out  to  Philip's  commissioner,  for 
the  town,  and  not  for  the  Queen.^ 

The  death  of  Shan  O'Neil  had  for  the  present  put 
an  end  to  open  rebellion.  Shan  had  been  the  focus 
round  which  the  disaffection  had  centred,  and  when  he 
was  gone,  there  was  no  rallying  point  left.  His  many 
brothers  had  shared  his  fortunes  and  had  perished 
along  with  him,  and  the  lordship  of  the  O'Neils  passed 
to  his  kinsman  Tirlogh  Lenogh,  whose  elevation  di- 
vided the  clan  and  relieved  Sidney  of  further  immedi- 
ate alarm.  The  Papal  Primate  Creagh,  who  had  been 
with  Shan  before  his  defeat,  was  betrayed  to  the  Dep- 
uty by  one  of  the  O'Shaughnessies.  As  he  had  es- 
caped once  before,  Cecil  thought  it  would  be  better  to 
make  an  end  of  him,  and  unless  Sidney  saw  objections 
he  recommended  that  the  Archbishop  "  should  be  in- 
dicted and  ordered  to  receive  that  which  in  justice  he 
had  deserved,  for  example's  sake  to  restrain  the  traitor- 

1  Narrative  of  Diego  Ortiz.  —  MS.  Simancas. 


15G8.]  The  Reign  of  Elizaheth.  485 

ing  to  Rome."  ^  The  poor  wretch  was  spared  the  fate 
which  was  intended  for  liim.  The  Deputy  for  some 
reason  suggested  a  doubt  of  "  the  indifferency  of  his 
trial  "  in  Dubhn.  Before  he  could  be  sent  to  London 
he  escaped  out  of  prison  once  more,  made  his  way  to 
Scotland  and  thence  to  the  Continent  to  disappear  from 
history.  The  see,  however,  was  filled  by  a  nominee 
of  Cecil's,  "  a  lusty  good  priest "  named  Lancaster, 
wdiom  Tirlogh  Lenogh  promised  to  support,  and  the 
English  Government  began  to  be  sanguine  that  Protes- 
tantism  would  at  last  make  progress.  Elizabeth,  anx- 
ious to  indemnify  herself  for  her  enormous  expenses, 
began  to  enquire  after  abbey  lands  and  confiscated  es- 
tates, and  ancient  rights  and  rents  of  the  Crown  ;  and 
Cecil  so  far  gave  way  to  his  hopes  of  better  times  that 
he  thought  of  going  in  person  to  Dublin  and  joining 
Sidney  in  the  settlement  of  the  country. ^ 

A  very  short  time  sufficed  to  show  that  the  Irish 
Millennium  had  not  absolutely  arrived.  Doctor  Lan- 
caster, for  one  thing,  could  not  venture  to  take  posses- 
sion of  his  Cathedral.  Notwithstanding;  the  fair 
speeches  of  Tirlogh  Lenogh,  he  had  reason  to  fear 
that  if  he  ventured  beyond  the  Pale  he  would  be 
snatched  up  and  sent  to  Spain,  and  he  loitered  at  Dub- 
lin like  his  predecessor  Adam  Loftus.^     The  peace  of 

1  Cecil  to  Sidney,  July  5:  Elizabeth  to  Sidney,  July  22:  MSS.  Ireland. 

'•2  Cecil  to  Sidney,  July  6:  MS.  Ibid. 

3  The  Archbishop  of  Armagh  to  Elizabeth,  November  12,  1508:  MS. 
Ibid.  Doctor  Lancaster  being  unable  to  go  to  his  diocese,  amused  himself 
apparently  with  studying  medicine.  Hearing  that  Cecil  had  been  sufl'ering 
from  the  gout,  he  sent  him  the  following  prescription:  — 

"  Take  two  spaniel  whelps  of  two  days  old,  scald  them  and  cause  the 
entrails  to  be  taken  out,  but  wash  them  not.  Take  five  ounces  of  brim- 
stone, four  ounces  of  turpentine,  five  ounces  of  parmaceti,  a  handful  of  nettles, 
and  a  quantity  of  oil  f)f  balm,  anrl  put  all  the  aforesaid  in  them  stamped 
and  .«ew  them  up  and  roast  them,  and  take  the  drops  and  anoint  you  wlicrc 
your  grief  is,  and  by  God's  grace  your  Honour  shall  find  help."  —  Tho 
Archbishop  of  Armagh  to  Cecil,  March  25,  1571 :  MS.  Ibid. 


486  History  of  England.  [Ch.  xxiv. 

the  country  could  not  be  preserved  without  soldiers  ; 
the  soldiers  could  not  be  kept  under  discipline  without 
regular  wages  ;  and  money  as  usual,  and  especially 
money  for  Ireland,  was  a  subject  on  which  not  one  of 
her  ministers  approached  Elizabeth  without  terror.^ 
Cecil,  with  the  utmost  difficulty,  extracted  sufficient 
sums  from  time  to  time  to  stave  off  mutiny,  but  the 
Irish  debt  was  frightfully  increasing.  The  Queen  in- 
sisted that  Ireland  should  be  made  to  pay  at  least  the 
cost  of  its  police  duty,  and  the  Council  once  more 
went  to  Avork  on  the  interminable  problem.  The  ob- 
vious method,  unless  the  practical  difficulties  proved 
insuperable,  was  to  people  the  country  with  military 
colonies. 

The  exclusive  right  of  a  savage  population  over 
lands  which  they  will  not  cultivate  is  always  disputa- 
ble. The  Irish  chiefs  might  be  held  to  have  forfeited 
such  title  as  they  possessed  by  their  repeated  rebellions, 
and  might  be  fairly  required  to  surrender  a  part  of 
their  domains  as  the  price  of  their  pardon.  A  thou- 
sand English  soldiers  who  had  been  just  dismissed 
were  ready  made  for  the  purpose ;  there  were  many 
"  husbandmen,  ploughwrights,'cartwrights,  smiths,  and 
carpenters  "  among  them.  They  might  form  a  settle- 
ment at  once  at  some  point  in  the  North,  where  they 
could  defend  themselves  at  least  with  as  much  success 
as  the  Scots ;  and  afterwards  fishermen  might  be 
tempted  with  privileges  to  form  establishments  at  the 

1  The  duty  was  thrust  on  Cecil,  who,  wi-iting  to  Sidney,  says:  —  "  In  all 
these  things  I  only  am  forced  to  break  the  ice,  and  if  I  might  be  answered 
comfortably,  as  reason  requireth,  the  pains  were  tolerable,  but  truly,  my 
Lord,  as  it  is  used  I  cannot  further  endure  it.  Every  other  councillor  is 
burdened  but  with  assenting  and  commanding;  and  I  am  like  a  slave  put 
to  all  the  drudgery  to  carry  out  all  disgraces.  But  it  is  good  for  me  to 
stay,  for  if  I  open  this  gate  I  should  lead  j'ou  into  a  bottomless  pit  of  my 
miseries."  —  Cecil  to  Sidney,  February  2,  1569:  MSS.  Ireland. 


1568.]  The  Reign  of  Elizabeth.  487 

mouths  of  the  rivers,  Avhich  in  time  "  might  grow  into 
haven  towns."  ^  The  difficulty  was  still  the  expense. 
The  colonists  would  require  an  outfit,  which  the 
Queen  would  be  unwilling  to  provide,  and  Sidney  rec- 
ommended a  subscription  among  the  wealthy  English 
noblemen  and  gentlemen.^  A  more  developed  plan 
was  conceived  perhaps  by  Cecil,  which  would  have 
amounted  to  an  organised  invasion.  It  was  proposed 
that  one  able-bodied  emigrant  should  be  selected  from 
every  two  parishes  in  England.  The  expense  of  trans- 
porting them  to  Ireland  and  of  maintaining  them  for 
the  first  year  in  their  new  settlement  was  to  be  de- 
frayed by  rates  on  the  counties  from  which  they  were 
taken.  Each  of  these  persons  was  to  have  a  farm 
allotted  to  him,  and  the  distribution  was  to  be  so  ar- 
ranged that  the  colonists  might  "  dwell  together  in 
manner  of  towns  to  the  number  of  one  hundred  house- 
holds at  least."  The  lands  were  to  be  secured  to  them 
and  their  heirs,  subject  to  a  small  annual  payment  to 
the  Crown.  Every  .gentleman  who  would  go  over  at 
his  own  expense  might  have  an  increase  of  grant  in 
proportion  to  the  number  of  servants  that  he    might 

1  Mr.  Vice-Chamberlain's  opinion  in  the  causes  of  Ireland,  July  7,  1507: 
MSS.  Ireland. 

2  "  For  Ulster  too  true  it  is  that  the  cliarge  will  be  intolerable  for  her 
Majesty  either  to  (kfeiul  that  province  by  soldiers  or  to  plant  it  with  people 
at  her  own  charge;  and  yet  one  of  these  two  ways  must  be  taken  before 
reformation  of  revenue  can  be  looked  for.  In  my  opinion,  jx-rsuasion 
should  be  used  among  the  noblemen  and  gentlemen  of  England  that  there 
miglit  at  sundry  mon's  charges  without  exhausting  the  Prince's  particular 
purse,  bi;  iuduced  here  some  colony.  If  it  were  to  the  number  of  two 
thousand  men  or  more,  here  were  room  enough  (or  them;  but  then  they 
must  be  furnished  with  monej',  apparel,  victuals,  and  means  to  till  the 
ground,  aud  seed  for  the  same,  as  if  they  should  imagine  to  find  nothing 
here  but  earth,  auil  indeed  little  else  shall  they  find,  saving  only  flesh  and 
some  beasts  for  earing  of  the  grouml.  There  liveth  not  tlie  two  hundredth 
man  which  might  well  be  nourished  here."  —  Sidney  to  Cecil,  November 
20,  1508:   MS.  Ibid. 


488  History  of  Englaiid.  [Ch.  xxiv. 

take  with  him.  The  Queen  should  provide  depots  of 
food  till  the  first  year's  crops  were  got  in,  and  the 
Crown  payments  would  furnish  a  fund  to  reimburse 
the  counties  for  the  cost  of  the  original  outfit.  Any 
objections  which  might  be  raised  in  England  would  be 
removed,  it  was  thought,  by  a  circular  explaining  the 
incessant  expense  which  the  existing  administration  of 
Ireland  entailed  upon  the  Crown,  and  through  the 
Crown  upon  the  people,  with  the  waste  of  life  among 
the  English  troops  "  sent  thither  to  serve  in  the  wars." 
The  Queen  possessed  lands  enough,  either  by  forfeit- 
ure, escheat,  or  just  title  of  inheritance,  to  enable  her 
to  carry  out  the  scheme  without  invading  the  rights 
of  the  Irish  chiefs  ;  and  she  was  ready  to  bestow  these 
lands  for  the  benefit  of  the  commonwealth.  If  her 
subjects  declined  the  proposal  she  would  then  be 
obliged  "  to  require  their  aid  to  collect  and  maintain 
soldiers  to  live  there  in  o-arrisons."  ^ 

The  care  with  which  the  details  of  this  large  project 
were  drawn  out  implies  that  it  was  seriously  con- 
sidered. Either,  however,  the  country  did  not  re- 
spond to  the  invitation,  or  it  was  set  aside  in  favour  of 
another,  at  once  more  practicable,  more  audacious,  and 
more  questionable. 

The  suppression  of  Shan's  rebellion  reopened  the 
disputes  between  the  Earls  of  Ormond  and  Desmond, 
which  Sidney's  skill  had  held  for  a  time  suspended. 
The  points  at  issue  between  them  were  so  many  and 
so  complicated  that  the  Irish  lawyers  could  not  see 
their  way  through  them  —  but  the  House  of  Butler 
had  been  as  faithful  to  the  Eno-lish  Crown  as  the  Ger- 
aldines  had  been  disloyal.     Lord  Ormond    had   been 

1  Motion  for  the  sending  men  out  of  certain  parishes  into  Ireland,  Janu- 
ary, 1568 :  MSS.  Ireland. 


I 


1568.]  TJie  Reign  of  Elizabeth.  489 

educated  in  London  as  the  playfellow  in  childhood  of 
Elizabeth  and  Edward,  and  the  Queen  had  insisted 
that,  with  law  or  without  it,  the  right  should  be  found 
on  Ormond's  side.  But  for  the  disobedience  of  the 
Deputy  she  would  have  driven  Desmond  into  an  alli- 
ance with  Shan  O'Neil ;  and  now  when  the  danger 
was  over,  although  Desmond  had  kept  clear  of  treason, 
and  although  Lord  Winchester  and  Cecil  strongly  dis- 
suaded her,  she  determined  to  bring  him  to  trial.  The 
Earl  at  the  first  summons  surrendered  to  Sir  H.  Sid- 
ney, and  Avas  sent  as  a  prisoner  to  London. 

The  Geraldines,  both  in  Kildare  and  the  South,  it  is 
true,  were  a  dange^'ous  race  :  Elizabeth  perhaps  thought 
it  politically  wise  to  bring  them  on  their  knees.  The 
trial  was  put  off",  and  Desmond,  more  lucky  than  his 
kinsmen  of  the  past  generation,  escaped  a  dungeon 
in  the  Tower.  He  was  allowed  to  live  at  lar^e,  on  his 
own  recognizances,  but  he  was  forbidden  to  leave  Eng- 
land.  At  last  when,  weary  of  his  restraint,  he  at- 
tempted to  escape  out  of  the  country,  he  was  arrested 
and  made  to  purchase  his  life  by  a  surrender  of  every- 
thing that  he  possessed.  A  brief  entry  in  the  Records 
informs  us  "  that  on  the  12th  of  July,  1568,  the  Earl 
of  Desmond  —  acknowledging  his  offences,  his  life 
being  in  peril,  his  goods  liable  to  forfeiture,  and  him- 
self in  danrrer  to  her  Hio-hness  for  the  forfeiture  of 
20,000/.  by  his  securities — relinquished  into  her  Maj- 
esty's hands  all  his  lands,  tenements,  houses,  castles, 
signories,  all  he  stood  possessed  of,  to  receive  back 
what  her  Majesty  would  please  to  allow  him,  and  en- 
gaging to  make  a  full  and  complete  assui'ance  to  her 
Majesty  of  all  which  she  might  be  pleased  to  keep." 

So  enormous  were  the  feudal  superiorities  pretended 
by  the    Munster    Geraldines    that  half   the    province 


490  History  of  England.  [Ch.  xxiv. 

could  be  construed  by  implication  to  have  fallen  into 
the  Queen's  hands.  A  case  for  forfeiture  could  be 
made  out  with  no  great  difficulty  against  the  Irish 
owners  of  the  remainder.  In  the  scheme  which  had 
been  drawn  out  by  Sir  Henry  Sidney  for  a  Southern 
Presidency,  the  MacCarties,  the  O'Sullivans,  and  the 
other  chiefs  were  to  have  been  associated  in  the  Gov- 
ernment, in  the  hope  that  they  would  be  reclaimed  to 
"  civility  "  by  the  possession  of  legitimate  authority. 
A  project  briefer  and  less  expensive  was  submitted  to 
the  Queen  from  another  quarter. 

It  was  an  age  of  enterprise,  restlessness,  and  energy. 
The  sons  of  English  knights  and  gentlemen,  no  longer 
contented  Avith  the  old  routine  of  duties  and  a  station- 
ary place  in  the  social  scale,  were  out  in  search  of  ad- 
ventures on  the  wide  world.  The  ancient  order  of 
Europe  had  broken  down.  The  shores  of  the  political 
ocean  were  strewed  with  wrecks  for  the  boldest  hand 
to  plunder.  The  Atlantic  was  a  highway  where  the 
privateer,  with  no  more  risk  than  gave  flavour  to  the 
employment,  could  fill  his  sea-chests  with  doubloons  or 
ingots  from  the  Indian  mines.  And  caring  little  for 
legality,  the  young  English  rover  was  craving  only  to 
do  some  deeds  which  would  bring  him  name  and  fame, 
or  at  least  would  better  his  private  fortunes. 

Excited  by  the  difficulties  of  the  Government,  or 
perhaps  directly  invited  to  come  forward,  a  number  of 
gentlemen  of  this  kind,  chiefly  from  Somersetshire  and 
Devonshire  —  Gilberts,  Chichesters,  Carews,  Gren- 
villes,  Courtenays  —  twenty-seven  in  all,  volunteered 
to  relieve  Elizabeth  of  her  trouble  with  Ireland. 
Some  of  them  had  already  tried  their  fortunes  there ; 
most  of  them,  in  command  of  pirates  and  privateers, 
had  made  acquaintance  with  the  harbours  of  Cork  and 


1568.]  Tlie  Reign  of  Elizaheth.  401 

Kerry.  Thev  were  prepared  to  migrate  there  alto- 
gether on  conditions  which  would  open  their  way  to 
permanent  greatness. 

The  surrender  of  the  Desmond  estates  created  the 
opportunity.  They  desired  that  it  should  be  followed 
up  by  the  despatch  of  a  Commission  to  Munster  to 
examine  into  the  titles  of  the  chiefs,  and  where  the 
chiefs  had  no  charters  to  produce,  to  claim  the  estates 
for  the  Crown.  The  whole  of  the  immense  territory 
which  would  thus  be  acquired  these  ambitious  gentle- 
men undertook  at  their  own  charges  to  occupy,  in  the 
teeth  of  their  Irish  owners,  to  cultivate  the  land,  to 
build  towns,  forts,  and  castles,  to  fish  the  seas  and 
rivers,  to  make  roads  and  establish  harbours,  and  to 
pay  a  fixed  revenue  to  the  Queen  after  the  third  year 
of  their  tenure.     They  proposed  to  transport 

-    ^       ^  .  February. 

from  their  own  neighbourhoods  a  sufficient 
number  of  craftsmen,  artificers,  and  labourers  to  en- 
able them  to  make  good  their  ground.  The  chiefs 
they  would  drive  away  or  kill :  the  poor  Irish,  even 
"  the  wildest  and  idlest,"  they  hoped  to  compel  into 
"  obedience  and  civility."  If  the  Irish  nature  proved 
incorrigible,  "  they  Avould  through  idleness  oftend  to 
die."  The  scandal  and  burden  of  the  Southern  Prov- 
inces would  then  be  brought  to  an  end.  Priests  would 
no  longer  haunt  the  churches,  the  countries  possessed 
by  rebels  would  be  inhabited  by  natural  Englishmen ; 
and  Kinsale  Valentia,  Dingle,  through  which  the  Span- 
iards and  the  French  suj)plied  the  insurgents  with  arms, 
■would  be  closed  against  them  and  their  machinations. 
The  English  settlers  would  have  the  fish,  "  wherein 
those  seas  were  very  fortunate,"  and  "  the  strangers 
who  now  sold  fish  to  the  country  people  would  be 
driven  to  buy  for  their  own  markets,  to  the  great  en- 


492  History  of  England.  [Ch.  xxiv. 

riching  of  good  subjects."  Her  Majesty  would  be 
spared  her  present  expense,  and  would  be  strengthened 
in  the  command  of  the  Channel ;  while  the  adventur- 
ers asked  nothing  but  the  grant,  undertaking  to  do  the 
rest  themselves,  requiring  only  that  they  should  not  be 
looked  upon  "  as  banished  men,"  and  declaring  that 
they  meant  rather  "  to  carry  England  to  Ireland," 
than  to  leave,  as  so  manv  else  had  done,  their  own 
nationality  behind  them.^ 

This  enormous  scheme  was  submitted  to  the  con- 
sideration of  Cecil.  His  sense  of  justice  and  his 
caution  were  alike  alarmed  by  the  magnitude  of  the 
intended  operations.  "  Forfeiture,"  he  wrote  in  the 
margin  of  the  petition,  "  could  not  be  enforced  before 
attainder  by  some  order  of  law,  nor  before  offence 
found."  He  was  disposed  to  agree  that  they  might 
have  the  lands,  if  the  owners  "  could  be  either  ad- 
judged felons  by  common  law,  or  declared  traitors  by 
proclamation  of  the  Lord  Deputy  ;  "  but  he  suggested 
that  the  young  gentlemen  should  begin  their  experi- 
ment with  the  county  of  Cork,  and  advance  as  they 
found  their  o;round  secure. 

But  the  projectors  knew  what  they  were  about.  If 
their  adventure  was  to  succeed  at  all,  they  conceived 
that  it  could  succeed  only  if  tried  on  an  Imperial  scale. 
The  Irish  might  prove  too  strong  for  them,  if  they 
could  gather  on  their  flanks  and  were  left  with  har- 
bours through  which  they  could  brino;  in  the  Spaniards. 
They  insisted  that  they  must  have  the  whole 
^" "  coast-line  from  the  mouth  of  the  Shannon  to 

Cork  harbour  included  in  their  grant.  They  would 
then  have  but  a  single  frontier  to  defend  on  the  short 

1  Petition  of  sundry  her  Majesty's  good  subjects,  February  12,  1569: 
MSS.  Ireland. 


1569.]  The  Reign  of  Elizaheth.  493 

line  from  Cork  to  Limerick.^  Wild  as  this  project  may 
appear  at  first  acquaintance  with  it,  nevertlieless,  if  to 
extinguish  an  entire  people  be  to  solve  the  problem  of 
governing  them,  it  promised  better  for  the  settlement 
of  Ireland  than  any  project  Avhich  had  been  as  yet 
sucro-ested.  The  action  of  the  Crown  was  hesitatino-, 
embarrassed  by  a  sense  of  responsibility,  and  hampered 
by  considerations  6f  humanity.  The  adventurers,  it  is 
plain,  understood  the  problem  which  they  were  under- 
taking, and  meant  to  hesitate  at  no  measures,  however 
severe,  which  would  assist  them  in  dealincj  -with  it. 
The  Irish  people  were  to  become  "  civil  "  and  indus- 
trious, or  else  "  through  idleness  Avould  offend  to  die." 
These  Western  gentlemen  had  been  trained  in  the 
French  wars,  in  the  privateer  fleets,  or  on  the  coast  of 
Africa,  and  the  lives  of  a  few  thousand  savages  were 
infinitely  unimportant  to  them.  In  collision  with  such 
men  as  these,  the  Irish  would  have  shared  the  fate  of 
all  creatures  who  will  neither  make  themselves  useful 
to  civilisation,  nor  have  strength  enough  to  defend 
themselves  in  barbarism.  Their  extinction  was  con- 
templated with  as  much  indifference  as  the  destruction 
of  the  Red  Indians  of  North  America  by  the  politi- 
cians of  Washington,  and  their  titles  to  their  lands  as 
not  more  deserving  of  respect.  The  Irish,  it  is  true, 
were  not  wholly  savages  ;  they  belonged,  as  much 
as  the  English  themselves,  to  the  Arian  race  ;  they 
had  a  history,  a  literature,  laws,  and  traditions  of 
their  own,  and  a  religion  which  gave  half  P^urope  an 
interest  in  their  preservation  ;  but  it  is  no  less  certain 
that  to  these  intending  colonists  they  were  of  no  more 
value  than  their  own  wolves,  and   M'ould   have    been 

1  Settlement  of  Munster,  April,  1509,  with  side  notes  by  Cecil :  J/S/S. 
Irtland. 


494  History  of  England.  [Ch.  xxiv 

exterminated  with  equal  indifFerence.  Accident  only, 
which  betrayed  the  project  prematurely  and  gave  the 
chiefs  time  to  combine,  prevented  the  experiment  from 
beino;  tried. 

It  has  been  seen  that  the  Irish  septs,  taking  advan- 
tage of  the  civil  war  in  England  in  the  15th  century, 
had  reoccupied  large  portions  of  the  interior  of  the 
island,  from  which  they  had  before  been  driven  by  the 
Normans.  Many  English  families  had  been  forced  to 
leave  the  country;  their  estates  had  been  abandoned 
wdtliout  prospect  of  recovery ;  and  their  great-grand- 
children retained  title-deeds  which  long  had  no  value 
except  as  historical  curiosities.  The  fall  of  Shan  and 
the  energy  of  Sidney,  however,  gave  a  hope  that  Eng- 
land would  now  recover  its  ascendancy.  The  parch- 
ments, become  again  of  importance,  could  be  made 
use  of  as  pretexts  against  the  Irish,  or  to  assist  the  in- 
tended forfeitures,  and  several  of  the  twenty-seven 
speculators,  Sir  Peter  Carew,  Sir  Warham  St.  Leger, 
Sir  Richard  Grenville,  Humfrey  Gilbert,  and  others, 
having  acquired  claims  of  this  kind  either  by  purchase 
or  inheritance,  set  out  for  Munster  to  look  after  their 
so-called  properties,  without  Avaiting  for  the  resolution 
of  the  Council  upon  the  general  project.  Nor  were 
they  contented  with  a  mere  survey  ;  they  carried  with 
them,  under  the  name  of  servants,  considerable  num- 
bers of  their  retainers,  and  believing  justly  that  at  such 
times  no  title  was  so  good  as  solid  possession,  St.  Leger 
and  Grenville  laid  hold  of  a  number  of  farms  and  cas- 
tles in  the  neighbourhood  of  Cork,  which  MacCarty 
More  and  Desmond  supposed  to  belong  to  themselves. 
The  estates  thus  seized  lay  within  the  line  of  the  in- 
tended confiscations.  Desmond's  property  had  been 
surrendered,  and  MacCarty  was  marked  for  forfeiture. 


I 


1569.]  The  Reign  of  Elizabeth.  495 

Sir  Peter  Carew  was  imprudent  enough  to  trespass 
upon  the  jurisdiction  of  Lord  Ormond,  to  lay  claim 
through  a  title-deed  a  century  old  upon  estates  in 
Kilkenny  belono-ing  to  Lord  Ormond's  two  brothers. 
Sir  Edward  and  Sir  Edmund  Butler,  and  in  the  same 
style  to  mai'ch  in,  eject  their  tenants,  and  quarter  his 
own  men  in  the  best  houses  on  the  property.  Or- 
mond at  the  time  was  in  England,  pushing  his  suit 
against  the  Geraldines.  His  brothers,  seeing  them- 
selves dispossessed  of  their  lands  by  such  an  extraordi- 
nary process,  and  hearing  rumours  at  the  same  time 
that  Carew  and  his  friends  were  the  advanced  guard 
of  a  general  invasion,  flew  to  arms  in  their  own  de- 
fence. The  English,  Sir  Edward  Butler  said,  "  were 
coming  to  L-eland  to  make  fortunes  by  the  sword,  and 
none  but  fools  or  slaves  would  sit  still  to  be  robbed." 
They  raised  the  Ormond  war-cry,  drove  out  Carew's 
servants,  and,  wild  with  rage,  came  down  upon  an 
Irish  chief  who  had  played  into  his  hands,  burnt  his 
house,  drove  his  cattle,  and  plundered  his  granaries. 
If  report  spoke  true,  their  violence  did  not  rest  in 
these  (for  Ireland)  legitimate  measures  of  retribution. 
A  number  of  poor  Irish  dependents  of  Carew  collected 
their  movable  goods  in  the  churches,  and  sent  their 
women  there  for  protection.  The  Butler  kerns  re- 
spected neither  place  nor  person  ;  they  burst  the  doors, 
misused  and  ravished  the  poor  women,  young  and  old, 
married  and  unmarried,  and  after  two  days  and  two 
nights  of  unrestrained  brutality,  went  off  "  with  the 
spoil  of  three  hundred  chests  and  coffers."  ^  Carew, 
knowing  Elizabeth's  regard  for  the  House  of  Ormond, 
was  for  the  moment  afraid  to  retaliate,  and  meanwhile 
the  Munster  clans  caught  fire ;  MacCarty  More,  James 
1  Terellaugh  MacBreene  Ardye  to  Cecil :  MSS.  IreUuid. 


406  History  of  England.  [Ch.  xxiv. 

Fitzmaurice  the  Earl  of  Desmond's  brother,  and  the 
Southwestern  chiefs,  held  a  meeting  in  Kerry,  and  de- 
termined to  use  the  opportunity  of  the  quarrel  between 
the  Butlers  and  the  English  for  a  common  rising  to 
save  themselves  from  the  impending  destruction.  To 
them  the  struffffle  was  for  their  lands  and  lives,  and  as 
the  colonisation  scheme  leaked  out,  it  became  easy,  with 
such  a  cause,  to  unite  all  Ireland  against  the  invaders. 
The  religious  cry  and  the  land  cry  fell  in  together. 
The  land  was  the  rallying  ground  among  themselves  : 
religion  gave  them  a  claim  on  the  sympathy  and  the 
assistance  of  the  Catholic  Powers.  A  Catholic  re- 
bellion was  known  to  be  impending  in  England,  and 
the  King  of  Spain  was  supposed  to  be  secretly  encour- 
affino;  the  disaffection  there.  The  cause  was  the  same 
in  the  two  countries,  and  the  chiefs  concluded  natu- 
rally that  Philip  would  prefer  the  easier  enterprise  of 
an  Irish  conquest,  which  he  might  hope  to  maintain, 
to  the  political  perplexities  in  which  he  would  involve 
himself  by  placing  Mary  Stuart  on  the  throne  of 
Ehzabeth.  They  determined,  therefore,  to  offer  the 
Irish  crown  to  any  prince  of  Spanish  blood  whom 
Philip  might  please  to  give  them.  The  Celts  and  the 
Norman  Irish  were  equally  interested,  for  all  believed 
themselves  threatened,  and  all  equally  detested  Prot- 
estantism. Messengers  went  round  the  provinces 
collectino;  simiatures  to  the  intended  address  to  the 
Spanish  King,  and  not  a  single  chief  or  nobleman  re- 
fused his  name,  except  the  two  Butlers,  who  in  the 
midst  of  their  own  agony,  "  spotted,"  as  Ormond  him- 
self proudly  complained,  "  with  the  name  of  traitors," 
called  rebels  in  Dubhn,  and  protected  only  by  dread 
of  Elizabeth  from  being  hunted  down  as  wild  beasts, 
declined  to  abandon  their  loyalty.     Sir  Edmund  But- 


1569.]  The  Reign  of  Elizahetli.  497 

ler  told  Fitzmaurice  that  "  he  could  die  to  be  reveno-ed 
upon  Carew,"  and  that  he  would  fight  to  the  death  to 
preserve  his  lands  ;  but  "  he  would  not  meddle  with 
the  bringing  in  of  Spaniards,  or  with  the  setting  up 
the  Mass."  ^  The  Ormond  family  held  on,  notwith- 
standing the  provocations  which  they  had  received,  to 
their  old  allegiance  ;  but  they  stood  alone  against  the 
whole  island  beyond  the  Pale,  and  three  Archbishops 
and  eight  Bishops,  the  Earls,  Barons,  chiefs,  the  entire 
noble  blood  of  the  country,  combined  in  one  common 
effort  to  transfer  to  Spain  the  sovereignty  of  Ireland. 

The  Archbishop  of  Cashel,  Maurice  Macginn,  or 
Maurice  Reagh,  as  he  was  called,  was  chosen  to  be  the 
bearer  of  the  petition,  and  "  escorted  to  his  ship  "  by 
James  Fitzmaurice  "  as  if  he  were  a  god,"  he  sailed 
from  a  harbour  in  Kerry  in  February,  1569,  at  the 
moment  when  the  confiscation  project  was  assuming  a 
practical  shape  in  London. 

His  commission  was  addressed  to  the  Pope  as  well  as 
to  Philip.2 

Beginning  with  St.  Patrick  and  the  first  conversion 
of  Ireland,  the  petitioners  dwelt  upon  the  constancy 
of  the  Irish  people  to  the  faith  which  their  first  apostle 
had  planted  among  them.  They  said  that  they  desired 
to  remain,  like  their  fathers,  in  union  with  the  Church  ; 
that  they  so  detested  heresy  that  they  would  rather 
forsake  their  homes  and  emigrate  to  some  other  coun- 
try  than  live  under  the  rule  of  schismatics  or  acquiesce 
in  the  errors  of  their  opi)ressors.  In  the  reigns  of 
Henry  VHI.  and   Edward  VI.  the    English  had  pil- 

1  Edmund  Butler  to  the  Earl  of  Ormond,  August  24, 1569:  MSS.  Ira- 
land. 

2  The  signatures  of  the  Archbishops  and  Bishops  would  decide  the  ques 
tion  of  their  attitude  towards  the  Reformation,  if  on  other  ground  there  was 
the  slightest  reason  to  feel  doubtful  about  It. 

VOL.  X.  32 


498  History  of  Ungland.  [Cu.  xxiv. 

laged  their  churches,  destroyed  their  monasteries,  pro- 
scribed their  bishops,  expelled  and  persecuted  the  re- 
licrious  orders,  and  had  thrown  the  whole  of  Ireland 
into  confusion.  The  present  Queen  was  treading  in 
the  steps  of  her  father,  imprisoning  prelates,  and  other- 
wise doing  evil,  as  he  had  done.  She  had  sent  over 
preachers  of  heresy ;  she  had  introduced  heretical  books 
to  poison  the  minds  of  the  multitude ;  and  now,  there- 
fore, in  all  humility,  they  prayed  God  to  have  pity  on 
their  sufFerino;s  and  to  move  the  hearts  of  his  Holiness 
and  the  Catholic  King  to  deliver  them.  Long  and  pas- 
sionately they  said  that  they  had  looked  to  the  King  of 
Spain  for  assistance.  To  him  and  to  the  Pope  the  sov- 
ereignty of  Ireland  of  right  belonged ;  and  to  escape 
the  yoke  of  inconstant  and  uncertain  England  they 
were  ready,  with  the  blessing  of  God,  to  accept  any 
Catholic  prince  of  the  King  of  Spain's  blood  whom  he 
would  be  pleased  to  name.  Such  a  one  they  would 
obey  and  acknowledge  as  their  lawful  and  natural  sov- 
ereign. They  would  establish  the  succession  in  his 
children,  and  they  would  then  have  one  faith  and  one 
ruler,  and  their  ancient  monarchy  would  be  revived. 
They  prayed  Pope  Pius  to  sanction  and  confirm  the 
King  of  Spain's  choice.  Ireland  might  then  hope  to 
remain  in  perpetual  obedience  to  the  Holy  See  in  the 
pure  communion  of  the  Church  of  Christ,  and  in  alli- 
ance with  the  Royal  House  of  Castile,  from  which  their 
own  nobles  claimed  also  to  be  descended.  Their  coun- 
try was  inferior  to  England  neither  in  climate,  soil,  nor 
natural  resources,  and,  could  it  be  justly  and  orderly 
governed  by  a  Catholic  prince  who  would  reside  among 
his  subjects,  it  would  be  as  rich  and  as  strong  as  Eng- 
land. The  people  with  one  consent  detested  the  tyranny 
and  inconsistency  of  the  English  domination  over  them, 


1569.]  The  Reign  of  Elizabeth.  499 

especially  they  detested  their  heresies,  and  they  desired 
to  hold  no  further  intercourse  with  them  beyond  the 
exchano;e  of  the  common  courtesies  of  neio-hbours."  ^ 

Of  this  "  villany,"  for  "  villany  "  it  of  course  ap- 
peared to  the  English  gentlemen  whose  prospects  were 
threatened  by  it,  information  was  immediately  furnished 
to  Sidney  by  Sir  Warham  St.  Leger.  "  The  end  of 
that  Devilish  Prelate  "  —  so  St.  Leo-er  called  the  Arch- 
bishop  —  "  was  to  resist  the  good  defaces  Avhich  had 
been  formed  for  the  welfare  of  Ireland,"  and  he  could 
but  hope  that  the  Queen  would  "  presently,  with  all 
the  speed  that  might  be,  send  over  the  well-minded 
persons  who  intended  to  adventure  their  lives  and  liv- 
ings in  the  conquest." 

Finding  Elizabeth  slower  than  he  wished,  Sir  War- 
ham  and  Grenville  hastened  back  to  London  to  quicken 
her  resolutions,  and  the  moment  of  their  absence  was 
seized  by  Fitzmaurice  to  call  his  people  under  arms. 
A  small  vessel  which  belono;ed  to  Sir  John  Hawkins, 
and  was  one  of  the  two  which  escaped  from  St.  Juan 
de  Luz,  was  in  the  harbour  of  Kinsale.  There  were 
a  few  pieces  of  bronze  artillery  on  board,  of  which 
Fitzmaurice  possessed  himself ;  and  with  these,  in  com- 
pany with  the  Earl  of  Clancarty,  he  came  down  upon 
the  lands  of  which  they  had  been  robbed.  Lad}^  St. 
Leger  and  Lady  Grenville,  who  had  been  left  in  pos- 
session, had  just  time  to  escape  into  Cork  ;  the  whole 
establishment  —  tenants,  servants,  farm  labourers  — 
had  their  throats  cut ;  ten  thousand  of  their  cattle  were 
driven  off  into  the  hills,  and  Clancarty  announced  os- 
tentatiously that  he  was  henceforward  plain  MacCarty 
More,  aiifl  would  n(!ver  wear  his  Earl's  coronet  more. 

1  "  Expo.silion  del  I^stailo  do  los  ncf^ocios  di;  (rlaiidn  que  se  lia  dc  liacer  d, 
8U  Sant'i  y  :i  la  Ma;,^'i  Catolica  dc  la  parte  de  los  (Jbispus  y  nobles  de  aquella 
Isla." —  MH.  Simancas. 


500  History  of  England.  [Ch.  xxiv. 

The  towns  throughout  the  provinces,  one  after  the 
other,  opened  their  gates  to  the  two  chiefs.  Mass 
was  said  in  the  churches  again  wherever  it  had  been 
dropped.  The  suspended  Desmond  rents  were  levied 
in  kind,  or  paid  gratefully  under  the  excuse  of  com- 
pulsion. The  same  course  was  followed  everywhere, 
and  is  described  in  a  letter  to  Sir  H.  Sidney,  from  "  the 
Suifreyn  and  Citizens  of  Kilmalloch."  Fitzmaurice 
came  under  their  walls,  required  them  to  surrender, 
and  threatened  to  kill  them  if  they  refused.  He  levied 
a  sum  of  money  on  them  ;  he  exacted  an  oath  from 
them  that  "  thev  would  use  none  other  divine  service 
but  the  old  divine  service  of  the  Church  of  Rome  ;  " 
he  made  them  "  promise  to  find  him  and  his  host  in 
victuals  for  their  money,"  as  often  as  they  should  come 
thither,  and  regard  him  as  Desmond's  representative 
until  the  Queen  sent  his  brother  back  to  them."  ^ 
English  settlers  were  swept  away  wherever  they  had 
established  themselves.  Fitzmaurice  desired  to  cool 
the  ardour  of  the  intending  colonists,  and  showed  no 
mercy  "  either  to  them  or  to  their  friends."  '^  By 
the  middle  of  the  summer  he  came  with  his 
guns  and  some  thousands  of  his  ragged  war- 
riors to  Cork,  and  he  sent  a  demand  to  the  Mayor,  "  to 
abolish  out  of  the  city  all  Huguenot  heretics, "  espe- 
cially Lady  Grenville  and  her  family,  and  to  unite  with 
him  in  purging  the  churches  of  all  traces  of  their  pres- 
ence.^ 

1  The  SuflFreyn  and  his  brethren  of  Kilmalloch  to  the  Lord  Deputy,  July 
3:  MSS.  Ireland. 

2  "  They  torment  her  Highness's  true  subjects  whom  they  understand  to 
be  furtherers  of  civility  with  more  cruel  pains  than  either  Phalaris  or  any 
of  the  old  tyrants  could  invent."  —  The  Mayor  of  Waterford  to  Cecil,  July 
8:  MS.  Ibid. 

3  The  letter  is  curious  and  not  discreditable  to  Fitzmaurice. 

"IVIr.  Mayor, — I  commend  me  unto  you;  and  whereas  the  Queen's 


1569.]  TJie  Reign  of  Elizabeth.  501 

The  sudden  blaze  of  insurrection  found  Sir  H.  Sid- 
ney without  money  as  usual,  and  with  a  mere  handful 
of  troops,  insufficient  for  the  police  duty  of  the  Pale. 
He  was  himself  heartily  in  favour  of  the  colonisation 
scheme,  and  if  "  the  commotion  "  assisted  in  overcom- 
ing Elizabeth's  objection  to  it,  he  was  inclined  to  be 
rather  glad  than  sorry  that  it  had  broken  out.  It  sat- 
isfied him,  and  he  hoped  it  would  satisfy  her,  that  if  a 
Spanish  army  came  over,  and  the  chiefs  were  still  in 
possession  of  their  lands  and  castles,  the  country  could 
not  be  held,  unless  with  a  larger  force  than  England 
could  afford  to  keep  there.  He  wrote  to  Cecil  to  rec- 
ommend him  to  impress  this  fact  strongly  upon  her, 
and  he  himself,  meanwhile,  prepared  to  move  down 
into  Munster  with  as  many  men  as  he  could  collect. 

The  Butlers  had  hitherto  been  the  immediate  re- 
source in  times  of  sudden  danger.  The  fear  now  was 
that   they    would  join   the    rebellion.       Elizabeth,    on 

Majesty  is  not  contented  to  dispose  all  our  worldly  goods,  our  bodies,  and 
our  lives  as  she  list,  but  must  also  compel  us  to  forego  the  Catholic  faith  by 
God  unto  his  Church  given,  and  by  the  See  of  Rome  hitherto  prescrilied  to 
all  Christian  men  to  be  observed,  and  use  another  newly  invented  kind  of 
religion,  which  for  my  part,  rather  than  I  would  obey  to  my  everlasting 
damnation,  I  had  liefer  forsake  all  the  world  if  it  were  mine,  as  I  wish  all 
others  who  profess  Christ  and  His  true  faith  to  do:  therefore  tliis  shall  be  to 
require  you  in  tlie  way  of  charity  tliat  ye  ought  to  have  towards  all  them 
that  profess  to  be  Christian  men,  to  abolish  out  of  the  city  that  old  heresy 
newl}-  raised  and  invented,  and  all  them  that  be  Huguenots,  both  men  and 
women,  and  Grenville's  wife  and  children,  and  to  set  up  the  service  after 
the  due  form  and  manner  which  is  used  in  Rome  and  througliout  all 
Christendom,  and  as  our  forefathers  have  ever  used  to  fore.  Assuring  you 
that  if  }'ou  fullow  not  this  our  Catholic  and  wholesome  exhortation,  I  will 
not  nor  may  not  be  your  friend;  and  in  like  manner  I  wish  and  require  the 
Chapter  and  all  the  Clergy  of  Cork  and  of  the  Hishoprick  thcrcdf  to  frame 
themselves  to  honour  God  as  your  ancestors  have  done,  and  destroy  out  of 
the  town  all  the  Huguenots  with  the  first  wind. 
"  From  Martyrstone  this  12th  of  July,  1569. 

"  Spes  nostra  Jesu  Maria. 
"  Yours  if  ye  be  in  good  faith, 
—  MdS.  Ireland.  "James  Fitzmalkice  ok  Desmond." 


502  History  of  England.  [Ch.  xxiv. 

hearing  of  the  outbreak,  sent  Ormond  back  to  take 
charge  of  his  people,  and  so  far  as  the  Earl  was  con- 
cerned, she  left  him  without  a  request  ungratified,  or 
a  complaint  unredressed.  The  Desmond  cause  was 
decided  in  his  favour  on  every  point.  He  was  empow- 
ered to  seize  as  many  castles  and  manors  as  would 
compensate  for  the  injuries  which  he  professed  to  have 
received.  He  was  relieved  of  all  payments  to  the 
Crown  upon  his  own  vast  estates.  He  was  even  al- 
lowed, and  Sidney  received  strict  orders  not  to  inter- 
fere, to  revive  the  abominable  system  of  coyn  and 
livery  which  had  with  so  much  difficulty  been  abol- 
ished. 

The  Deputy,  unfortunately,  did  not  hke  Ormond. 
He  considered  these  extravagant  concessions  at  once 
unjust  and  mischievous  ;  especially  at  a  time  when  the 
peace  of  the  country  had  been  broken  by  his  flimily. 
While  Ormond  was  hastening  over  from  London,  Sid- 
ney summoned  the  two  brothers  to  Dublin,  to  answer 
for  their  rebellion.  They  appealed  from  the  Deputy 
to  the  Queen,  and  refused  to  appear,  and  Sidney  pro- 
claimed them  outlawed  as  contumacious.  Carew,  re- 
covering courage,  collected  a  party  of  English,  attacked 
the  Butlers  near  Kilkenny,  and  killed  some  hundreds 
of  them.  This  done,  he  set  upon  Sir  Edward's  house, 
and  massacred  every  man,  woman,  and  child  that  he 
found  within  the  walls,  not  sparing  even  a  little  boy  of 
three  years  old.^  It  was  the  beginning  of  the  general 
extermination  which  was  contemplated  in  the  scheme 

1  "  Sir  Peter  the  third  time  gathered  a  great  company,  my  brother  being 
from  home,  and  assaulted  my  brother's  house  having  in  it  eight  men  and 
won  it,  and  put  them  to  the  sword,  and  also  did  execution  upon  all  the 
women  and  children  that  were  in  the  house,  and  among  them  was  an 
honest  gentleman's  son  in  the  house  not  three  years  old  that  was  also 
murdered."  —Ormond  to  Cecil,  July  24,  1569:  MSS.  Ireland. 


1569.]  The  Reign  of  Elizabeth.  503 

of  settlement  ;  and  it  will  be  seen  that  the  gentlemen 
interested  in  the  intended  partition  imitated  Carew's 
example  wherever  they  had  an  opportunity,  with  tlie 
deliberate  and  expressed  approval  of  Sir  Henry  Sidney. 
Sir  Edward  Butler,  being  without  hope  of  justice 
from   the    Deputy,    challenged    Carew    "  to 

1  ^  It  A  1  r\  VI  August. 

mortal  combat.  "  As  to  the  C^ueen,  he 
said,  "  he  loved  her  so,  that  he  would  be  a  slave  in  her 
kitchen  if  she  commanded  him ; "  but  he  would  not 
sit  still  while  those  who  depended  on  him  for  protection 
were  murdered  under  his  own  roof,  and  while  he  him- 
self "  was  proclaimed  a  traitor,"  as  "an  excuse  to  take 
his  lands  from  him."  He  would  make  war  to  the 
death  "against  those  that  banished  Ireland  and  meant 
a  conquest."  He  was  ready  to  fight  these  would-be 
colonists  one  after  another,  man  to  man,  in  Sir  Henry 
Sidney's  presence,  and  before  the  whole  English 
army.^ 

The  news  of  Carew's  atrocities  w^ere  spread  fast  over 
Ireland,  and  every  chief  prepared  to  take  the  field. 
TirloP[h  Leno^h  forgot  his  shortlived  loyaltv,  and  un- 

O  Oct  •/••'' 

furled  the  banner  of  the  O'Neils.  Clanrickard  and 
Thomond  combined  in  the  west,  and  Kildare  was  Avait- 
ing  only  to  see  how  the  scale  would  turn.  If  a  Span- 
ish fleet  appeared  in  the  Irish  seas  before  the  fire  had 
burned  down,  Sidney  felt  that  nothing  could  save  him. 
There  were  but  2000  able-bodied  Englishmen  in  the 
whole  island,  and  liad  the  fighting  power  of  the  Irish 
been  equal  to  the  loudness  of  their  talk,  they  could 
have  been  swept  int(j  the  sea,  as  it  was,  without  help 
from  strangers.  That  they  were  able  to  hold  their 
ground  at  all,  if  the  hatred  of  England  was  as  intense 
as  every  account  from  the  country  represented  it,  was 

1  Sir  Edward  Butler  to  tlie  Earl  of  Ormond,  August  24 :  MSS.  Ireland. 


504  History  of  England.  [Ch.  xxiv. 

a  mjsteiy  ;  and  Cecil,  perplexed  altogether  with  the 
extraordinary  stories  which  came  over  to  him,  sent 
young  Edward  Tremayne  ^  to  examine  into  their  truth, 
and  to  let  him  know  quietly  the  real  condition  of  the 
country. 

Tremayne,  on  his  first  arrival,  reported  "  that  the 
matter  was  more  fearful  than  hurtful."  "  The  rebels 
showed  no  valour  except  where  there  was  no  resist- 
ance ;  and  the  English,  if  they  had  only  courage, 
might  count  on  victory  wherever  they  met  them.  Be- 
ing a  Devonshire  man,  and  a  friend  of  Gilbert  and 
Grenville,  he  saw  the  Irish  through  their  eyes,  and 
believed  what  they  told  him  ;  so  miserable  "  the  naked 
knaves  "  appeared  to  him,  that  he  thought  "  birchen 
rods  "  would  be  fittest  weapons  to  use  upon  them.  He 
considered  the  combination  a  good  opportunity  for  a 
"  general  reformation  ;  "  "  the  forfeitures  and  confisca- 
tions deserved  by  the  rebellion  of  the  Irish  would  pay 
for  the  charge  of  their  correction ;  "  and  he  "  could 
only  pray  that  it  might  be  severely  followed."  ^ 

A  few  months'  experience  sufficed  to  correct  these 
hasty  views.  Tremayne  learnt  that  the  conspiracy 
vyas  universal.  "  West,  north,  and  south,  all  tending 
to  subvert  the  English  Government."  "  The  naked 
knaves "  proved  less  contemptible  than  he  imagined, 
and  he  came  to  see  that  confiscation  was  as  unwise  as 
he  at  first  regarded  it  desirable. 

Ormond,  evidently,  was  not  made  a  party  while  in 
England  to  the  colonisation  scheme.  On  his  landing, 
the  truth  became  for  the  first  time  known  to  him,  and 
in  language  scarcely  ambiguous  he  gave  Cecil  to  under- 

1  Tremayne  of  Sydenham,  in  Devonshire,  brother  of  the  twin  who  was 
killed  at  Ha\Te. 

2  Edward  Tremayne  to  Sir  Hugh  Pollard,  July  7:  MSS.  Ireland. 


1569.]  The  Reign  of  Elizabeth.  50.") 

stand  that  favour  to  himself  should  not  make  him  un- 
true to  Ireland.  If  the  lands  of  the  ancient  owners 
were  to  be  seized  for  the  benefit  of  strano-ers,  he  said 
plainly  that  he  would  make  common  cause  with  his 
countrymen. 1 

The  apostasy  of  so  powerful  an  interest  was  a  risk 
too  formidable  to  be  ventured.  To  drive  Ormond 
into  combination  with  Fitzmaurice,  would  make  either 
colonisation  or  military  government  alike  impossible, 
except  at  a  cost  which  Elizabeth  could  not  undertake. 
Carew's  covetousness  had  exploded  the  mine  at  once 
prematurely  and  in  the  most  unfortunate  direction ; 
and  he  and  his  companions  w^ere  compelled  to  suspend 
their  ambition,  and  to  wait  till  the  law  had  decided  in 
their  favour,  before  taking  armed  possession  of  other 
men's  properties.  The  scheme  from  which  such  great 
results  were  expected  was  allowed  to  drop,  to  be  re- 
vived a  few  years  later  at  the  further  extremity  of  the 
island,  with  more  modest  pretensions ;  and  Munster, 
the  first  object  of  English  avarice,  was  left  to  the  "  sav- 
age "  proprietors. 

It  was  less  easy  to  lay  the  storm  Avhich  had    been 
raised,  or  even  to  quiet  Ormond's  suspicions. 
Sir    Henry    Sidney,   after    being    reinforced 
from  England,  had    hurried  down  to  the  south.     He 
moved    first    on    Waterford,  expecting  the  citizens  to 

1  "  This  is  the  order  now-a-days  to  come  by  the  possession  of  my 
brother's  lands;  and  to  make  the  better  quarrel  to  liis  livin;,'  my  Lord 
Deputy  proclaimed  liini  rebel.  I  hope  the  Queen's  IMajesty  will  think  of 
this  manner  of  dealinf^  witli  iier  subjects.  I  assure  you  Sir  Peter's  dealing 
for  my  brother's  land  has  made  all  the  lords  and  men  of  living,  dwelling 
out  of  the  Knf^lisli  I'ale,  think  there  is  a  conquest  meant  of  all  their  coun- 
tries. I  do  hear  that  certain  foolish  letters,  written  in  some  fond  sort  Ijy  Sir 
Warham  St.  Leger  or  some  others,  be  come  into  the  hands  of  divers  here. 
By  Ood,  if  it  be  as  m_v  men  tell  me,  those  that  have  liithcrto  always  served 
the  Queen  faithfully  are  now  in  doubtful  terms.  I  mc;!in  some  of  great 
calling."  —  Ormond  to  Cecil,  July  24:  MUS.  Ireland. 


506  History  of  England.  [Ch.  XXIV. 

join  him  ;  but  the  corporation  pleaded  their  hberties, 
refused  to  open  their  gates,  or  spare  a  man  for  his  ser- 
vice. The  two  Butlers  were  in  strength  at  Cashel ; 
where,  after  reconnoitring  their  position,  he  "  found 
those  people  in  a  quarter  of  such  difficulty  from  bog 
and  Avood,"  that  he  dared  not  meddle  with  them.  He 
went  on,  therefore,  burning  villages,  blowing  up  castles, 
killing  the  garrisons,  and  flinging  their  bodies  from  the 
battlements,  "  for  a  terror  of  all  others."  ^ 

Fitzmaurice,  on  hearing  of  his  approach,  fell  back 
from  before  Cork,  into  the  Kerry  mountains.  The 
smaller  chiefs  withdrew  into  their  strongholds.  Sidney 
stormed  them  one  after  another,  putting  every  man  to 
death  whom  he  caught  in  arms,  and  leaving  detach- 
ments wherever  they  could  best  overawe  the  country. 
To  punish  Kilmalloch  for  receiving  the  rebels,  he  car- 
ried off  the  mace  and  keys,  suspended  the  liberties  of 
the  town,  and  stationed  500  men  there,  under  Humfrey 
Gilbert,  who,  being  disappointed  of  his  estates,  re- 
mained to  serve  as  a  soldier. 

Sidney  himself  marched  on  to  Limerick,  to  Galway, 
to  Roscommon,  and  thence  across  to  Armagh  and  the 
borders  of  Tyrone  ;  making  a  complete  circuit  through 
the  disturbed  districts,  and  intending  to  finish  the  cam- 
paign by  a  visit  to  Tirlogh  Lenogh.  In  this  quarter, 
however,  he  found  himself  fortunately  relieved  of  im- 
mediate trouble.  Tii'logh  Lenocrh  had  married  the 
widow  of  James  M'Connell.^  Some  Avild  domestic  in- 
jury was  connected  with  the  alliance,  and  the  new 
chief  of  the  O'Neils  was  shot  through  the  body  one 
night  as  he  was  sitting  at  supper,  and  dangerously 
wounded.     The  Deputy,  therefore,  contented  himself 

1  Sir  Henry  Sidney  to  the  English  Council,  October  26:  MSS.  Ireland. 

2  Sister  of  Shan's  Countess  and  a  daughter  of  the  House  of  Argyle. 


1569.]  Tlie  Reign  of  Elizabeth.  507 

with  a  rapid  raid  across  his  borders,  and  returned  at 
the  beeinninsr  of  October  to  Dubhn. 

The  expedition  had  been  swift,  vigorous,  and  not 
without  effect.  The  destruction  might  have  satisfied 
tlie  propensities  even  of  an  Irish  chieftain.  Two  gar- 
risons had  been  left  in  the  heart  of  Munster.  Clan- 
rickard  and  Thomond  had  presented  themselves  at 
Limerick,  and  made  an  affected  submission  ;  and  Sir 
Edward  Fitton,  a  Dublin  judge,  was  placed  with  a 
third  detachment  at  Galway,  as  President  of  Con- 
naught.  The  Butlers  only  remained  to  be  dealt  with, 
and  having,  as  he  supposed,  awed  into  quiet  the  rest 
of  the  country,  the  Deputy  addressed  himself  to  his 
,  most  serious  difficulty.  The  brothers  had  broken  up 
from  Cashel  after  he  had  passed  south,  and  had  used 
the  time  in  completing  the  clearance  of  the  intending 
settlers.  Sir  Edward  had  revenged  the  destruction  of 
his  own  house  on  a  tenant  of  Carew's  at  Inniscorthy, 
committing,  as  Sidney  said,  "  outrages  too  horrible  to 
hear."  It  is  needless  to  dwell  upon  the  details.  Sid- 
ney may  have  exaggerated  the  worst  features  of  the 
story.  If  he  told  but  the  bare  truth,  the  English  had 
set  the  example  of  ferocity,  and  had  little  right  to  com- 
plain. 

However  it  was,  he  sent  for  Ormond  to  Dublin,  and 
required  him  to  bring  his  brothers  with  him.  While 
Sidney  was  still  in  the  field,  the  Earl  had  written  a 
second  letter  of  serious  remonstrance  to  Cecil.  He 
reminded  him  of  the  long-tried  loyalty  of  his  family, 
when  England  had  no  other  friend.  The  rebellion 
was  provoked,  he  said,  by  a  universal  belief  among 
the  peoi)le  that  their  lands  were  to  be  taken  from  them 
by  the  sword,  and  he  warned  him  that  such  a  project 
could  never  be  carried  out  without  the  destruction  of 


508  History  of  Ungland.  [Ch.  xxiv. 

the  whole  people. ^  When  Sidney's  message  came  he 
at  once  obeyed ;  and  his  brothers,  on  receipt  of  a  safe 
conduct,  consented  to  accompany  him.  They  were 
charged  with  rebellion.  They  said  boldly  that  they 
had  a  right  to  defend  themselves  against  oppression. 
Sidney  said  that  they  must  remain  in  Dublin  till  the 
Queen's  pleasure  could  be  ascertained ;  as  they  ap- 
peared contumacious,  he  declined  to  hear  them  further, 
and  made  Ormond  responsible  for  their  detention ;  a 
few  hours  later  one  of  them  escaped ;  the  other,  not- 
withstanding the  safe  conduct,  was  arrested  and  thrown 
into  the  castle. 

Amidst  the  conflicting  evidence  it  is  impossible  to 
measure  accurately  the  extent  of  their  real  offence. 
The  intention  to  confiscate  three  fourths  of  Munster 
and  divide  it  among  a  number  of  gentlemen,  of  whom 
Carew  Avas  the  leader,  is  proved  by  the  English  State 
Papers ;  and,  if  Sir  Edward  Butler  murdered  Carew's 
intruding  colonists,  he  could  at  least  plead  provocation. 
Sir  Henry  Sidney  Avas  a  high-natured,  noble  kind 
of  man,  fierce  and  overbearing,  yet  incapable  of  delib- 
erate unfoirness.  A  correspondent  of  Cecil's,  who 
was  present  when  the  Butlers  appeared  before  him, 
remarked  "  the  singular  gravity,  the  stoutness  and 
wisdom,  with  which  he  spoke."  On  the  other  hand, 
Ormond  maintained  that  Sidney  "  sought  the  over- 
throw of  his  family ;  "  that  he  was  himself  endangered 
as  well  as  his  brother ;  and  "  that  their  cause  could 
have  no  fair  hearing,  for  that  the  Lord  Deputy  him- 
self was  their  accuser."  ^ 

Mr.  George  Wise,  the  correspondent  alluded  to,  was 
doubtless  rio;ht  in  concludino-  that  "  the  real  cause  of 

1  Ormond  to  Cecil,  September  7 :  ^fSS.  Ireland. 

2  Same  to  the  Same,  October  27 :  3IS.  Ibid. 


1569.]  The  Reign  of  Elizabeth.  509 

the  mischief  was  the  Devil,  who  would  not  have  Ire- 
land reformed."  ^  But  the  land  question,  and  Sidney's 
known  views  upon  it,  with  the  vindictive  and  ferocious 
attitude  assumed  by  the  English  soldiers  towards  the 
people,  was  of  considerable  moment  in  furthering  the 
Devil's  purposes.  For  it  seems  certain  that  the  pa- 
tience of  Sidney  and  the  patience  of  England  generally 
was  worn  out ;  that  the  Irish  were  no  longer  looked 
upon  as  subjects  of  the  Crown,  to  be  reclaimed  with 
severity  or  tenderness,  but  as  having  themselves  lost 
their  rights  as  citizens  by  their  turbulence,  and  as  de- 
serving only  to  be  hunted  down  and  destroyed. 

Sir  Peter  Carew  has  been  seen  murdering  women 
and  children,  and  babies  that  had  scarcely 
left  the  breast ;  but  Sir  Peter  Carew  was 
not  called  on  to  answer  for  his  conduct,  and  remained 
in  favour  with  the  Deputy.  Gilbert,  who  was  left  in 
command  at  Kihnalloch,  Avas  illustrating  yet  more  sig- 
nally the  same  tendency.  Gilbert's  instructions  were 
to  tread  out  the  sparks  of  the  fire  which  Sidney  had 
beaten  down.  His  jurisdiction  extended  over  the 
west  of  Cork,  Kerry,  and  Limerick.  At  the  end  of 
two  months  he  sent  in  a  report  of  his  proceedings, 
which  were  regarded  as  eminently  successful.  He 
supposed  himself  to  have  established  profound  peace. 
MacCarty  More  had  been  on  his  knees  before  him. 
Fitzmaurice  bad  fled  to  Kilkenny,  and  "  Kerry  was  so 
quiet  that  he  had  but  to  send  his  horse-boy  ibr  any 
man  and  he  would  come." 

"  My  maimer  of  dealing,"  he  wrote,  "  was  to  show 

them  all  that  they  had  more  need  of  her  Majesty  than 

she  of  their  service  ;  neither  yet  that  we  were  afraid 

of  any  number  of  them,  our  quarrel  being  so  good.     I 

1  George  Wise  to  Cecil,  October  29 :  MSS.  Ireland. 


510  History  of  England.  [Ch.  xxiv. 

slew  all  those  from  time  to  time  that  did  belono-  to, 
feed,  accompany,  or  maintain  any  outlaws  or  traitors ; 
and  after  my  first  summoning  of  any  castle  or  fort,  if 
they  would  not  presently  yield  it,  I  would  not  after- 
wards take  it  of  their  gift,  but  won  it  perforce,  how 
many  lives  so  ever  it  cost,  putting  man,  woman,  and 
child  of  them  to  the  sword.  Neither  did  I  spare  any 
malefactors  unexecuted  that  came  to  my  hands  in  any 
respect ;  using  all  those  that  I  had  protected  with  all 
courtesy  and  friendship  that  I  might,  being  for  my  part 
constantly  of  this  opinion  that  no  conquered  nation 
will  ever  yield  willingly  their  obedience  for  love,  but 
rather  for  fear."  ^ 

The  English  nation  was  shuddering  over  the  atroci- 
ties  of  the  Duke  of  Alva.     The  children  in 
the  nurseries  were  being  inflamed  to  patriotic 
rage  and  madness  by  tales  of  Spanish   tyranny.     Yet 
^  /        Alva's  bloody  sword  never  touched  the  young,  the  de- 
fenceless, or  those  whose  sex  even  dogs  can  recognise 
and  respect. 

Nor  was  Gilbert  a  bad  man.  As  times  went  he 
passed  for  a  brave  and  chivalrous  gentleman,  not  the 
least  distinguished  in  that  high  band  of  adventurers 
who  carried  the  English  flag  into  the  Western  hemi- 
sphere ;  a  founder  of  colonies,  an  explorer  of  unknown 
seas,  a  man  of  science,  and,  above  all,  a  man  of  spe- 
cial piety.  In  this  very  Irish  service  he  displayed  sig- 
nal and  splendid  courage.  He  held  a  ford  near  Kil- 
malloch  single-handed  against  a  troop  of  Irish  horse, 
to  cover  the  passage  of  his  people.  He  regarded  him- 
self as  dealing  rather  with  savage  beasts  than  witli 
human  beings,  and  when  he  tracked  them  to  their  dens 
he  strangled  the  cubs  and  rooted  out  the  entire  broods. 

1  Humfrey  Gilbert  to  Sir  H.  Sidney,  December,  1569 :  MSS.  Ireland. 


1570.]  Tlie  Reign  of  Elizabeth.  511 

And  not  he  onlj,  but  Elizabeth's  representative,  the 
statesman,  the  gentleman,  the  accomplished  Sidney, 
he,  too,  for  these  doings  could  find  but  words  of  praise, 
nay,  could  scarce  find  words  sufficient  to  express  his 
admiration  of  them.  "  For  the  Colonel,"  he  Avrote  to 
Cecil,  "  I  cannot  say  enough."  "  The  highways  are 
now  made  free  where  no  man  might  travel  unspoiled. 
The  gates  of  cities  and  towns  are  now  left  open,  where 
before  they  were  continually  shut  or  guarded  with 
armed  men.  There  was  none  that  was  a  rebel  of  any 
force  but  hath  submitted  himself,  entered  into  bond, 
and  delivered  hostages,  the  arch-rebel,  James  Fitz- 
maurice,  only  except,  who  is  become  a  bush-beggar, 
not  having  twenty  knaves  to  follow  him.  And  yet 
this  is  not  the  most  nor  the  best  that  he  hath  done  ; 
for  the  estimation  that  he  hath  won  to  the  name  of 
Englishman  there,  before  almost  not  known,  exceedeth 
all  the  rest ;  for  he  in  battle  brake  so  many  of  them, 
wherein  he  showed  how  far  our  soldiers  in  valour  sur- 
passed those  rebels,  and  he  in  his  own  person  any  man 
he  had.  The  name  of  an  Eng-lishman  is  more  terrible 
now  to  them  than  the  siMit  of  a  hundred  was  before. 
For  all  this,  I  had  nothing  to  present  him  with  but  the 
honour  of  knighthood,  which  I  gave  him  :  for  the  rest, 
I  recommend  him  to  your  friendly  report."  ^ 

Sir  Henry  Sidney  was  premature  in  concluding  that 
the  troubles  of  the  country  were  at  an  end. 

mi         /^'ii  IIP  1  1  •       January. 

Ihe  Cjrilbert  mctliocl  or  ti'eatment  has  this 
disadvantage,  that  it  must  be  carried  out  to  tlie  last 
extremity,  or  it  ought  not  to  be  tried  at  all.  Tlie  dead 
do  not  come  back  ;  and  if  the  mothers  and  the  babies 
are  slaughtered  with  the  men,  the  race  gives  no  further 
trouble  ;  but  the  work  must  be  done  thoroughly  ;  ])artial 

1  Sidney  to  Cecil,  January  4,  1570:  MSS.  Ireland. 


512  History  of  England.  [Ch.  xxiv. 

and  fitful  cruelty  lays  up  only  a  long  debt  of  deserved 
and  ever-deepening  hate. 

In  justice  to  the  English  soldiers,  however,  it  must 
be  said  that  it  was  no  fault  of  theirs  if  any  Irish  child 
of  that  generation  was  allowed  to  live  to  manhood. 
One  more  group  of  examples  shall  be  mentioned  to 
show  what  their  conduct  was.  The  facts  themselves 
happened  two  years  after  Gilbert's  doings  at  Kilmal- 
loch.  But  it  is  desirable  to  bring  the  subject  before 
the  reader  with  all  its  distinctive  features  ;  the  lan- 
guage in  which  the  story  about  to  be  related  is  told, 
implies  even  more  than  it  says,  and  by  its  common- 
place, business-like,  and  altogether  natural  tone,  indi- 
cates rather  a  deliberate  and  habitual  principle  of  action 
than  an  exceptional  outburst  of  violence. 

To  the  west  of  the  Wicklow  mountains,  on  the 
frontier  of  the  Pale,  a  few  soldiers  were  stationed  to 
protect  the  farmers  of  Dublin  and  Kildare.  The  offi- 
cer in  command,  or  seijeant-major  as  he  was  then 
called,  was  a  certain  Mr.  Agard,  and  he  had  four 
other  officers  under  him.  Captain  Hungerford,  Captain 
George,  Lieutenant  Parker,  and  Captain  Wingfield. 
Agard's  services  were  in  high  esteem  with  the  Gov- 
ernment. When  it  was  proposed  to  appoint  a  Presi- 
dent for  Ulster,  Sir  Humfrey  Gilbert  was  thought  of 
for  the  post,  as  being  likely  to  govern  the  North  as 
Agard  governed  the  O'Birnes  and  the  O'Tooles.  In 
May,  1572,  a  report  was  sent  in  by  this  gentleman  of 
one  week's  duty,  which  was  endorsed  briefly  at  the 
castle  "  A  note  of  the  Serjeant-major  his  Services 
since  the  16th  of  May."  i  At  the  time  to  which  the 
report  refers  there  was  no  open  rebellion.  The  Wick- 
low marauders  had  been  simply  stealing  cattle  in  the 

1  MSS.  Irelaiid,  Maj',  1572. 


1570.]  The  Reign  of  Elizabeth.  513 

Pale,  and  it  was  thought  desirable  to  read  them  a  les- 
son. In  the  eyes  of  the  Government  they  were  rob- 
bers ;  in  their  own  eyes  they  were  patriots  ;  just  as 
Drake  and  Hawkins  were  called  by  the  Spaniards 
"  pirates,"  while  to  the  English  they  were  the  cham- 
pions of  Israel  sent  forth  to  spoil  the  Philistines.  The 
principal  offenders  were  the  families  of  MacHughs,  the 
Eustaces,  the  Roes,  and  the  Garralds,  who  inhabited 
the  slopes  of  Lugnaquilla,  and  the  glens  between  Lug- 
naquilla  and  Croghan  Moira,  the  highest  of  the  Wick- 
low  hills. 

The  first  expedition  against  these  people  —  for,  as 
will  be  seen,  there  was  a  series  —  was  of  no  particular 
moment.  A  party  of  soldiers  made  their  way  to  the 
Barony  of  Shillelagh,  where,  the  report  says,  "  they 
burned  Garrald's  house,  with  sixteen  towns  or  hamlets, 
took  a  prisoner  or  two  and  forty-five  head  of  cattle, 
and  had  other  killing." 

The  day  following,  their  work  lay  in  the  beautiful 
valley  of  Imale,  between  Baltinglas  and  Blessington. 
There,  reported  the  sergeant-major,  "  they  killed  a 
foster-brother  of  James  Eustace,  Pat  Tallon,  and  his 
brother  David,  whose  heads  were  sent  (like  a  bag  of 
game)  to  the  Lord  Keeper  ;  "  another  young  fellow 
was  run  into  and  dispatched  after  a  chase  of  three  miles, 
and  "much  spoil  was  taken."  After  a  few  hours'  rest, 
the  soldiers  swept  round  the  base  of  Lugnaquilla  to 
the  upper  waters  of  the  Avanagh,  and  fell  upon  the 
MacHughs.  Feagh  MacHugh,  of  whom  they  were 
chiefly  in  search,  was  absent,  but  "  they  slew  two  of 
his  foster-brothers,  four  or  five  kerns,  and  as  many 
others  as  were  in  five  cabins."  This  d(me  they  turned 
homewards.  On  their  way  they  picked  up  a  woman, 
whom  Agard  carried  to  the    station,  meaning,  as    he 

VOL.  X.  33 


614  History  of  England.  [Ch.  xxiv. 

said,  "  to  execute  her,  unless  she  would  serve  his  pur- 
pose." Captain  George,  with  a  scouting  party,  en- 
countered a  party  of  Tallons,  who  had  been  abroad  at 
mischief:  one  of  them  was  killed;  the  rest,  as  the 
soldiers  wanted  amusement,  were  stripped  naked,  and 
"  put  in  the  bog." 

The  sergeant-major  was  moderately  contented  with 
these  exploits,  when  spies  brought  him  word  that  a 
further  expedition  might  be  made  with  advantage  to  a 
place  called  the  Glennes,  now  Glenmalure.  The  cattle 
there  went  down  out  of  the  gorge  in  the  mornings  to 
feed  in  the  meadows,  and  the  soldiers  might  "  have 
either  kine  or  killing,"  so  the  report  expressed  it  — 
either  drive  off  the  herds  or  catch  the  people  in  their 
beds  and  murder  them.  "  Whereupon,"  says  Agard, 
"  I  sent  Captain  Hungerford  and  the  residue  of  the 
companies.  On  the  22d  of  this  month,  being  Thurs- 
day, they  marched  all  night,  and  lay  still  most  part  of 
the  day.  On  Friday,  at  night,  they  marched  again  ; 
and  on  Saturday  morning  they  were  at  the  Glenne 
mouth,  where  the  spy  offered,  if  they  would  stay,  to 
warrant  them  to  have  five  hundred  kine,  or  else  to 
enter  to  have  some  killing,  which  Captain  Hungerford 
and  Lieutenant  Parker  rather  chose.  At  the  break  of 
day  they  entered  in  and  had  the  killing  of  diverse  : 
what  they  were  I  know  not.  They  brought  away  five 
swords  with  six  Galloglasse  axes.  Theg  slew  many 
churls^  women,  and  children.  One  of  the  soldiers  was 
shot  through  the  thigh,  who  with  much  ado  was 
brought  away.  They  brought  with  them  thirty  kine, 
sheep,  and  other  pillage,  and  left  while  they  were  kill- 
ing five  hundred  kine  which  they  saw." 

Such,  and   so    related,   was  a  week's  service   of  a 
detachment  of  English   police.     Agard   was   casually 


1570.]  TJie  Reign  of  Elizabeth.  515 

alluded  to  afterwards  by  the  Deputy  as  an  able  and 
zealous  officer,  and  this  was  all  the  notice  which  was 
taken  of  his  performances.  The  inference  is  but  too 
natural,  that  work  of  the  kind  was  the  road  to  pre- 
ferment, and  that  this  or  something  like  it  was  the 
ordinary  employment  of  the  "  Saxon  "  garrisons  of 
Ireland. 

Sidney,  indeed,  notwithstanding  his  approval  of  such 
measures,  had  never  liked  his  office,  and  found  it  at 
last  intolerable.  He  never  wrote  to  England  without 
imploring  to  be  revoked  from  such  an  accursed  country. 
He  could  not  tell  whether  the  Queen  "  allowed  his 
proceedings."  She  neither  approved  nor  disapproved, 
but  said  nothing.  As  usual,  she  let  him  go  his  own 
way,  and  left  herself  free  to  disclaim  the  responsibility 
if  his  policy  foiled. ^  He  hoped,  however,  that  the 
severity  would  tell.  If  presidencies  could  be  estab- 
lished in  the  provinces  with  sufficient  force,  he  thought 
that  "  the  country  would  now  receive  whatsoever  print 
should  be  stricken  into  it ;  "  but  the  opportunity  ought 
not  to  be  lost.  "  If  the  iron  were  allowed  to  cool,  it 
might  be  found  steel."  The  people  M^ere  headstrong, 
and  "  if  the  curb  was  loosed  but  one  link,  they  would 
have  the  bit  in  their  teeth."  ^ 

The  truth  of  the  words  came  home  to  him  even 
sooner  than  he  expected.  Ever  fluctuating  between 
two  policies,  adopting  for  months  or  years  the  most 
cruel  measures  of  repression,  and  then  in  despairing 
economy  withdrawing  the  means  by  which  mihtary 
ascendancy  could  be  maintained,  Elizabeth's  Govern- 
ment succeeded  only  in  lashing  the  nation  into  mad- 
ness.    From  Ireland  itself  came  the  most  opposite  ad- 

1  Sidney  to  the  English  Council,  May  4,  1570:  MSS.  Ireland. 

2  Sidney  to  Cecil,  June  4:  MS.  Ibid. 


516  History  of  England.  [Ch.  xxiv. 

vices;  and  to  Ireland's  misery  the  various  physicians 
were  each  allowed  to  try  their  remedies. 

"  Absoluteness  of  power,"  wrote  one,  "  combined  to 
so  many  respects  and  considerations  beside  the  law, 
will  make  England  weary  of  this  land.  I  wish  the 
English  countries  were  governed  by  law  and  not  by 
captaincy,  ordering  all  things  by  the  discretion  of  such 
as  cannot  discern  right  from  wrong.  The  counties 
would  by  law  be  better  governed  and  more  to  her  Maj- 
esty's advantage  than  by  this  uncertain  kind  of  regi- 
ment, whereof  no  good  account  can  be  yielded."  ^ 

"  So  beastly  are  this  people,"  wrote  another,  "  that 
it  is  not  lenity  that  will  win  them.  It  is  not  the  image 
nor  the  name  of  a  President  and  Council  that  will 
frame  them  to  obedience ;  it  must  be  fire  and  sword, 
the  rod  of  God's  vengeance.  Valiant  and  com'ageous 
soldiers  must  make  a  way  for  law  and  justice,  or  else 
farewell  to  Ireland."  ^ 

One  permanent  element  of  weakness  there  was 
which  affected  other  interests  beside  those  of  Ireland  — 
the  poverty  of  the  Crown.  The  cost  of  the  Irish  Gov- 
ernment from  the  date  of  Elizabeth's  accession  had 
been  90,000?.,  and  of  this  70,000/.  remained  unpaid  — 
remained  in  the  form  of  outstanding  debts  to  the  farm- 
ers and  contractors  who  had  supplied  the  army,  and 
of  Exchequer  bills  bearing  usurious  interest.  Elizabeth 
hated  spending  money.  She  was  sparing,  on  principle, 
of  her  subjects'  purses  as  well  as  her  own  ;  and  after 
all,  when  the  demands  upon  the  treasury  from  France, 
from  Flanders,  from  Scotland,  the  expenses  of  the  navy, 
the  expenses  of  the  fortifications  on  the  coast,  are 
considered  against  the  revenue,  the  wonder  is  rather 

1  Nicholas  White  to  Cecil,  February  9:  MSS.  Ireland. 

2  Rokesby  to  Cecil,  April  15:   ^fS.  Ibid. 


1570.]  The  Bdgn  of  Elizabeth.  517 

at  the  greatness  of  the  results  which  Ehzabeth  achieved, 
than  at  the  shortcomings  in  the  particular  departments. 
The  condition  of  the  finances  must  have  been  as  well 
known  to  Cecil  as  to  his  mistress,  and  as  Cecil  himself 
continually  lamented  her  closeness,  the  limitation  of 
the  revenue  is  no  complete  vindication  of  it.  Cecil 
doubtless  would  have  preferred  a  more  free  application 
to  Parliament,  and  a  greater  forwardness  in  complying 
with  the  Parliament's  wishes.  Yet,  however  it  was, 
she  did  succeed  with  combined  courao-e  and  cunning;  in 
holding  at  bay  the  Catholic  PoAvers.  England,  with 
peace  and  immunity  from  taxation,  grew  enormously 
in  wealth  and  strength,  and  the  Queen  herself  was 
gaining  a  hold  on  the  affections  of  her  subjects  which 
palsied  the  arm  of  disloyalty. 

This  is  some  set-off  against  the  thousand  wrongs  and 
injustices  which  Elizabeth  inflicted  on  parties  and  per- 
sons dependent  upon  her  ;  it  does  not  amount  to  an 
excuse,  but  it  is  something  in  the  opposing  scale,  to  be 
allowed  for  and  remembered  in  the  estimate  of  her. 

If  England  throve,  however,  Ireland  bled  for  it. 
No  money  came  to  Dublin  to  pay  the  wages  of  the 
soldiers,  who  were  compelled,  as  before,  to  live  upon 
the  farmers  on  whom  they  were  billeted.  Gilbert, 
after  his  achievements  at  Kilmalloch,  was  recalled,  and 
not  a  trace  remained  of  his  work  but  his  own  knight- 
hood and  the  hate  which  his  cruelties  had  enofcndered. 
Fitzmaurice,  whom  he  had  described  as  a  hunted  fu- 
gitive, became  sovereign  of  Munster  the  instant  of  his 
departure,  and  the  few  persons  who  had  shown  favour 
to  the  Enirlish  were  tried  and  han<ied.  It  was  men- 
tioned  that  a  Presidency  was  established  in  Connaught : 
the  fortunes  of  it  form  a  curious  episode  in  Irish  his- 
tory.    Sir  Edward  Fitton,  like  most  men  of  his  calling, 


618  History  of  England.  [Ch.  xxiv. 

could  change  his  judge's  wig  for  a  steel  cap  when  the 
times  required  ;  but  he  was  a  man  whose  profession 
was  properly  peaceful,  and  he  became  a  soldier  only  on 
compulsion.  When  Gilbert's  troops  were  broken  up, 
he  took  part  of  them  into  his  service,  and  commenced 
his  duties  by  going  on  circuit  in  Clare.  The  Earls  of 
Thomond  were  the  hereditary  rulers  of  the  county. 
They  wei'e  superseded  by  the  new  Commission,  and 
Fitton,  to  make  the  transition  easy,  sent  to  Lord  Tho- 
mond to  say  that  he  would  be  his  guest  at  the  Assize. 
The  messenger,  who  had  been  one  of  Gilbert's  officers, 
was  admitted  into  Clare  Castle,  and  he  and  his  com- 
panions were  told  that  they  were  prisoners.  They 
resisted  ;  some  were  killed,  some  were  thrown  into 
dungeons,  and  the  Earl,  who  a  few  months  before  had 
appeared  himself  at  Sidney's  levee,  set  upon  the  town 
where  the  President  was  lying,  maimed  his  horses, 
scattered  his  train,  and  left  him  to  find  his  wav  back  to 
Galway  as  he  could. 

The  Deputy,  made  helpless  by  want  of  money,  was 
obliged  to  swallow  his  pride,  and  applied  to  Ormond  to 
help  him  to  punish  this  new  outrage.  Ormond,  though 
still  loyal,  was  hampered  by  the  division  in  his  family, 
and  could  do  nothing.  A  handful  of  soldiers  were  at 
last  scraped  together  in  Dublin,  and  sent  to  Fitton,  who 
then  marched  into  Thomond  and  fought  a  battle, 
where,  though  he  gained  what  he  called  a  victoiy,  he 
was  himself  wounded,  and  his  men  were  so  badly  cut 
up  that,  he  was  obliged  to  retire.  Unable  to  trust  him- 
self again  in  Galway,  he  shut  himself  up  in  the  Castle 
of  Athlone,  and  there  for  a  time  he  maintained  a 
shadow  of  authority.  But  his  own  salary  was  unpaid, 
and  no  allowance  was  made  him  for  the  expenses  of 
his  office.     When  his  own  money  was  all  gone,  he  bor- 


1570.]  The  Reign  of  Elizabeth.  519 

rowed  to  the  extent  of  his  credit.  When  this  was 
gone,  there  was  no  resource  but  exaction.  His  fol- 
lowers became  a  company  of  ragged  and  starving 
ruffians  ;  and  the  President,  who  was  sent  to  introduce 
a  higher  order  of  justice  into  Connaught,  had  to  con- 
fess that  his  own  servants  "  were  moi'e  grievous  to  the 
people  than  the  rebels  could  be."  In  an  interval  of 
quiet  he  ventured  a  few  miles  out  of  the  town.  On 
his  return  he  found  the  gates  shut  against  him.  The 
citizens  declined  "  to  receive  or  relieve  the  soldiers 
further."  They  attempted  to  force  an  entrance,  but 
they  were  defeated  with  loss.  The  President  was  ad- 
mitted to  the  empty  honours  of  the  castle  ;  the  men- 
at-arms  were  dismissed  to  the  Pale,  and  Fitton  wrote 
to  the  Council  to  be  relieved  of  an  office  the  duties  of 
which  were  merely  "  to  have  to  speak  the  Queen's 
enemies  fair,  to  give  his  friends  leave  to  bribe  the 
rebels  for  their  own  safety,  and  to  see  the  people 
spoiled  before  his  face."  ^ 

It  cannot  be  said  that  England  deserved  to  keep  a 
country  which  it  mismanaged  so  disastrously.  The 
Irisli  were  not  to  be  blamed  if  they  looked  to  the  Pope, 
to  Spain,  to  France,  to  any  friend  in  earth  or  heaven, 
to  deliver  them  from  a  Power  which  discharged  no 
single  duty  that  rulers  owe  to  subjects. 

That  Philip  allowed  the  opportunity  to  escape  him 
was  due  in  part  to  the  causes  which  closed  his  ears 
asainst  the  Encrlish  Catholics,  and  for  which  he  en- 
dured  for  so  many  years  the  intolerable  insolence  of 
the  privateers.  He  could  not  agree  to  any  common 
course  of  action  with  France,  and  without  France  be 

1  Rokesby  to  Cecil,  April  15,  1570;  Sidney  to  the  Council,  June  24, 1570; 
Fitton  to  Cecil,  Auf,'ust  27,  1570;  February  8,  1571;  May  20,  1571;  Fitton 
to  the  Council,  October  29,  1571 :  MBS.  Irdand. 


520  History  of  England.  [Ch.  xxiv. 

durst  not  move  ;  while  again,  it  was  only  with  extreme 
reluctance,  and  by  extremely  slow  degrees,  that  he 
could  bring  himself  to  regard  Elizabeth  as  an  enemy, 
or  consent  to  measures  which  might  overthrow  her 
throne.  Yet,  as  with  England  he  had  been  long  per- 
plexed and  irresolute,  so  it  was  not  without  a  struggle 
that  he  abandoned  a  second  Catholic  nation  who  flung 
themselves  upon  him  for  protection  ;  and,  after  all,  he 
might  have  listened  favourably  to  the  petition  of  which 
the  Archbishop  of  Cashel  was  the  bearer,  but  for  a 
difficulty  unforeseen  by  any  one  who  did  not  understand 
the  secret  relations  between  the  Courts  of  Rome  and 
Madrid. 

The  Irish  had  dutifully  addressed  their  request  in 
the  first  instance  to  the  Pope.  For  some  mysterious 
reason,  the  ultimate  sovereignty  of  Ireland  was  held  to 
be  vested  in  the  Holy  See.  St.  Peter  had  given  it 
to  the  Normans.  The  grant  was  considered  to  have 
lapsed  with  English  apostasy,  and  St.  Peter's  successor 
was  entreated  to  transfer  it  to  the  Catholic  King.  No 
one  in  Ireland  dreamt  that  the  Pope  would  raise  an 
objection.  Having  excommunicated  Elizabeth,  and 
commissioned  the  Catholic  Powers  to  execute  his  sen- 
tence upon  her,  it  was  not  so  much  as  imagined  that 
when  the  Irish  people  came  forward  of  their  own  ac- 
cord to  do  his  bidding,  he  would  obstruct  their  wishes. 
The  King  of  Spain  conjectured  more  accurately  the 
Pope's  probable  feelings.  His  conduct  with  respect  to 
England  had  given  small  satisfaction  at  the  Vatican. 
He  had  stood  between  his  sister-in-law  and  Paul  IV. 
He  had  not  interfered  with  her  himself,  and  he  had 
prevented  the  French  from  interfering.  When  the 
ruling  Pontiff  would  wait  no  longer,  and  had  fulmi- 
nated his  excommunication,  Philip  had  forbidden  the 


1570.]  Tlie  Reign  of  Elizaheth.  621 

publication  of  the  Bull  both  in  Spain  and  in  Flanders. 
When  the  Irish  petition  was,  thei'efore,  presented  to 
him,  he  refused  to  reply  to  it  till  the  pleasiire  of  the 
Pope  should  be  known  ;  and  the  Pope  soon  justified 
his  hesitation  by  expressing  the  strongest  disapproval 
of  the  proposal.  He  was  weary  of  the  lukewarmness 
of  Spain.  He  was  expecting  a  Catholic  revolution  in 
England  which  would  restore  the  faith,  and  give  the 
throne  to  Mary  Stuart ;  and  he  had  not  the  slightest 
intention  of  allowing  her  expected  dominions  to  be  dis- 
membered in  favour  of  a  prince  who  had  done  so  little 
to  deserve  his  favour.  The  Archbishop  of  Cashel  had 
written  a  letter  to  Pius  full  of  eagerness  and  confidence. 
The  Cardinal  Secretary  replied,  witii  cold  brevity,  that 
His  Holiness  was  astonished  that  the  Irish  Church  and 
people  should  have  ventured  to  transfer  their  allegiance 
without  his  sanction.  They  ought  to  have  remembered 
that  Ireland  was  a  fief  of  the  See  of  Rome,  which  only 
a  grant  under  the  Pope's  seal  could  alienate.  If  the 
Catholic  King  would  ask  the  Pope  to  give  him  the 
kingdom  of  Ireland  to  hold  under  himself,  his  prayer 
would,  perhaps,  be  taken  into  consideration. ^ 

Words  could  scarcely  express  the  surprise  of  the 
Archbishop  at  the  Pope's  displeasure.  He  expected 
encouragement  and  thanks,  and  he  found  himself  re- 
buked for  his  officiousness.  He  could  not  understand 
such  an  answer,  or  sit  down  under  it  with  patience. 

"  I  have  received  your  Excellency's  letter,"  he  re- 
plied, "  and  I  am  overwhelmed  witii  confusion.  The 
Irish,  I  assure  you,  never  thought  for  a  moment  of 
trespassing  on  the  rights  of  the  Holy  See.  Our  sole 
idea  was  to  free  ourselves  from  English  tyranny.    Is  not 

1  Carflinal  Alciati  to  the  Archbishop  of  Cashel,  January  9,  1570:  MS. 
Himancas. 


522  History  of  England.  [Ch.  xxiv. 

Encrland  itself  a  fief  of  the  Church  ?i  and  did  not  the 
Pope  himself,  with  the  Council  of  Trent,  permit  any 
Catholic  prince  who  cared  to  do  it,  to  overthrow  the 
government  of  England  by  force  of  arms  ?  I  had 
hoped  that  on  hearing  of  my  commission,  His  Holiness 
would  have  been  the  first  to  exhort  the  King  to  under- 
take the  enterprise.  Are  we  to  wait,  then,  till  His 
Holiness  himself  interferes  for  our  salvation,  or  is  it  to 
be  the  King  of  France,  who  can  scarce  keep  his  own 
crown  upon  his  head  ?  What  prince  in  Christendom, 
I  beseech  your  Excellency,  has  the  power  of  the  King 
of  Spain  ?  What  prince  is  more  truly  Catholic,  more 
devout,  or  more  obedient  to  the  Holy  See  ?  and  who 
can  blame  a  prisoner  if  he  seeks  his  freedom  by  the 
first  means  that  offer  ?  Your  Excellency  will  say  that 
we  shall  be  no  more  free  than  we  are  now  —  we  shall 
only  be  subjects  of  another  sovereign  ;  and  that  is  true, 
and  if  any  one  had  asked  me  fifty  years  ago  to  which  of 
the  two  empires  I  should  prefer  that  Ireland  should 
belong,  I  should  then,  perhaps,  have  answered,  Eng- 
land. But  now,  as  we  are  at  present  governed,  to 
hear  mass,  to  attend  confession,  to  receive  the  sacra- 
ments of  the  Church,  is  treason  ;  while  in  Spain  the 
law  not  only  permits  these  duties,  but  demands  the 
performance  of  them. 

"  Your  Excellency  will  say  this  is  nothing  to  the  pur- 
pose ;  2  that  whoever  will  be  King  of  Ireland  must  sue 
to  the  Church  for  the  crown.  I  acknowledge  it ;  and 
the  Catholic  King,  I  doubt  not,  will  acknowledge  it ; 
but  your  Excellency  should  not  impute  to  the  Irish  a 
lack  of  obedience  for  offering  themselves  to  his  Majesty. 
How  else,  busy  as  he  is  with  other  matters,  could  they 

1  "  An  non  etiam  et  Anglia  ipsa  ad  Ecclesiam  nomine  feudi  pertinot?  " 

2  "  At  rursum  dicet  omnia  hasc  nihil  ad  rem  facere." 


1570.]  The  Reign  of  Elizabeth.  523 

bring  him  to  attend  to  them  ?  And  surely,  such  is  his 
piety,  he  would  never  listen  to  us  without  His  Holi- 
ness's  sanction.  But  your  Lordship  knows  that  unless 
either  he  or  some  one  comes  to  help  us,  the  evil  will 
be  past  cure,  either  by  Pope  or  King.  The  English 
are  growing  strong,  and  the  question  will  soon  be,  not 
of  Ireland  only,  but  of  Scotland,  France,  Flanders,  and 
all  Europe. 

"  If  His  Holiness  require  me  to  desist  from  this  com- 
mission, I  am  a  servant,  and  I  must  obey.  I  will  go 
home  and  make  my  neck  ready  for  the  axe,  as  many 
more  of  us  will  have  to  <'3,  unless  God  send  help  from 
heaven.  Write  to  me,  ^  beseech  you,  quickly.  Tell 
me  whether  the  Catholic  King  may  help  us,  and  what 
I  am  myself  to  do,  for  I  may  not  be  longer  absent  from 
my  country,  and  leave  my  flock  to  the  wolves.  The 
Viceroy  has  sacked  one  of  my  castles,  and  carried  off 
the  pall.  Entreat  His  Holiness  to  send  a  second  for 
me  hither,  as  the  ports  of  Ireland  are  for  the  most  part 
in  English  hands ;  and  meanwhile,  let  his  Majesty 
know  His  Holiness's  pleasure  through  his  ambassador 
at  your  court."  ^ 

No  immediate  reply  seems  to  have  been  sent  to  this 
letter.  The  Pope  was  probably  watching  the  progress 
of  the  Catholic  reaction  in  England.  Philip  had  not 
made  up  his  own  mind,  and  waited  also  before  making 
the  required  application,  and  the  Archbishop  lingered 
on  at  Madrid,  expecting  his  resolution. 

But  Eurojjean  poHtics,  as  has  been  already  seen,  as- 
sumed in  the  year  1570  a  new  phase.  Tiie  Hugue- 
nots recovered  their  influence  at  Paris.  The  Queen 
Mother  turned  her    back  on  Mary  Stuart.     Tlio    old 

1  The  Arclibibliop  of   Cashel   to  Cardinal  Alciati, ,  1570 :  MS.    Si- 

mancas. 


624  History  of  England.  [Ch.xxiv. 

projects  were  revived  for  the  conquest  of  Flanders,  and 
with  them  the  scheme  for  a  marriage  between  a  French 
prince  and  Elizabeth.  The  Queen  of  Scots  flung  her- 
self upon  Philip  ;  and  Philip,  seeing  her  separated  from 
France,  began  to  look  less  unfavourably  on  her  promo- 
tion to  the  English  throne.  Set  at  liberty  by  a  Span- 
ish army,  and  married  to  the  Duke  of  Norfolk,  as  the 
leader  of  the  great  Burgundian  faction  among  the  Eng- 
lish nobility,  she  would  be  no  longer  likely  to  be  politi- 
cally dangerous  to  him  ;  and  it  became  possible  to  rec- 
oncile his  interests  as  King  of  Spain  with  his  duty  to 
the  Catholics  and  to  the  Pope.  With  this  change  of 
sentiment  came  the  adoption  of  the  Pope's  views  with 
regard  to  Ireland,  and  the  abandonment,  if  he  had  ever 
seriously  entertained  it,  of  all  thought  of  accepting  the 
overtures  of  the  Bishop  of  Cashel.  The  Archbishop 
was  the  representative  of  Irish  nationality,  which  de- 
sired, once  for  all,  to  sever  its  connexion  with  England. 
The  English  Catholics  would  be  ill-pleased  to  see  Mary 
Stuart  the  sovereign  of  a  divided  dominion  ;  and,  so 
long  as  the  English  Empire  was  recovered  to  the 
Church,  Philip  had  little  desire  to  embarrass  him- 
self with  a  troublesome  addition  to  his  own  responsi- 
bilities. 

The  object  now,  therefore,  was  to  direct  the  insur- 
rectionary spirit  in  Ireland,  not  against  England  as 
such,  but  against  heresy  and  England's  heretic  Queen  ; 
and  an  instrument  for  this  purpose  came  ready  to 
Philip's  hand  in  a  person  who  has  been  already  named 
in  this  history,  Thomas  Stukely. 

Through  the  disappointment  and  jealousy  of  the 
Archbishop,  who  endeavoured  in  vain  to  warn  Philip 
ao-ainst  him,  a  closer  insight  can  be  obtained  into  the 
history  of  this  noticeable  man  than  is  to  be  found  m 


1570.]  TJie  Reign  of  Elizabeth.  525 

the  English  Records.  He  was  a  younger  son  of  Sir 
Lewis  Stukelj  or  Stuckley,  of  Ilfracombe  in  Devon- 
shire. He  went  to  London  early  in  life  to  seek  his 
fortune,  and  entered  the  household  and  wore  the  livery 
of  tlie  Duke  of  Suffolk.  He  was  perhaps  connected 
with  Wyatt's  insurrection,  for,  after  the  execution  of 
his  patron,  he  joined  Peter  Carew  and  the  Killegrews, 
bought  a  vessel  and  made  his  first  experiments  in  buc- 
caneering. His  occupation  took  him  to  the  south  of 
Ireland,  where  he  contrived  to  acquire  a  shadowy  title 
to  some  vast  estates  in  Cork.  In  the  time  of  Edward 
VI.  two  brothers  —  the  name  of  the  family  is  not  men- 
tioned—  quarrelled  over  their  inheritance.  The  elder 
was  the  favourite  of  the  people  ;  the  younger  appealed 
to  tlie  English  Deputy,  and,  promising  to  hold  his  lands 
of  the  Crown  and  be  a  loyal  subject,  obtained  a  decision 
in  his  favour.  Giving  trouble  however  soon  after,  in 
religious  matters,  he  too  was  in  turn  ejected.  The 
Deputy  bestowed  the  lands  on  an  English  soldier,  and 
the  soldier  finding  that  he  could  make  nothing  of  them 
and  was  likelv  to  be  murdered,  sold  his  interest  for 
some  trifling  sum  to  Stukely. 

Shortly  after,  and  before  he  could  take  possession  of 
his  purchase,  he  was  arrested  on  a  charge  of  piracy, 
sent  to  London,  and  thrown  into  the  Tower.  His 
fi-iends  interceded  for  him  and  obtained  his  pardon 
from  Queen  Mary  ;  and  being  again  adrift,  he  tried 
his  fortune  in  another  direction.  He  contrived, 
Othello-like,  to  bewitch  the  daughter  of  a  rich  London 
merchant  with  his  fine  talk  and  tales  of  adventures. 
The  lady  was  beguiled  into  a  secret  marriage  ;  the 
father  broke  his  heart  and  died.  She  was  an  only 
child,  and  Stukely  became  possessor  of  her  wealth. 
The  accumulations  of  an    industrious    life  were   soon 


526  History  of  England.  [Ch.  xxiv. 

squandered  in  extravagance  ;  in  a  few  years  but  little 
remained,  and  with  the  wreck  that  was  left  he  fitted 
out  a  small  squadron  and  obtained  leave  from  Eliza- 
beth to  colonise  Florida.  He  told  her,  in  his  vain 
style,  that  he  "  would  rather  be  sovereign  of  a  mole- 
hill than  the  greatest  subject  of  the  greatest  king  in 
Christendom."  He  said  he  would  found  an  empire 
and  would  write  to  her  "  in  the  style  of  princes  to  his 
dearest  sister."  But  the  principality  at  which  he  was 
aimino-  was  nearer  home  than  Florida.  He  took  to 
his  old  pirate  trade,  then  made  respectable  by  the 
name  of  privateering.  He  went  back  to  Ireland, 
where  Sir  Henry  Sidney  condescended  to  make  use 
of  him,  and  Shan  O'Neil  became  so  charmed  with  him 
that  he  recommended  Elizabeth  to  divide  the  country 
between  Stukely  and  himself,  and  together  they  would 
convert  it  into  a  Paradise. 

Elizabeth,  however,  would  accept  neither  Shan's  nor 
Sidney's  estimate  of  her  scandalous  subject.  He  had 
hoped  to  establish  his  title  to  the  lands  in  Cork  under 
the  southern  commission,  and  share  with  St.  Leger  and 
Carew  in  the  partition  of  Munster  ;  but  the  Queen, 
hearing  reports  of  murders,  robberies,  and  other  out- 
rages committed  by  him,  ordered  Sidney  to  lay  hands 
upon  him,  and  he  was  locked  up  in  Dublin  Castle. 

Implicated  as  he  had  been  in  the  spoliation  scheme, 
and  concerned  also,  it  seems,  in  the  pillage  and  de- 
struction of  certain  religious  houses,  he  had  made  no 
friends  among  the  Irish  except  Shan,  and  when  Shan 
was  dead  he  was  reo-arded  with  more  than  the  detesta- 
tion  wdiich  was  commonly  bestowed  upon  Englishmen.^ 

i  "  Esta  claro  que  ninguno  en  toda  Irlanda  hizo  mayor  destruccion  en 
iglesias,  monasterios  y  imagenes ;  siendo  natural  Ingles  y  muy  abhorrecido 
de  los  suyos,  es  muy  mas  abhorrecido  de  los  Irlandeses,  assi  per  el  natural 


1570.]  Tlie  Reign  of  Elizaheth.  527 

Yet,  understanding  Philip's  difficulties  about  Ireland, 
and  feeling  that  he  had  no  further  favour  to  expect 
from  Elizabeth,  he  contrived  while  in  prison  to  estab- 
lish a  correspondence  with  Don  Guerau,  to  pass  him- 
self off  as  a  person  of  great  influence  among  the  chiefs, 
as  an  ardent  Catholic,  devoted  to  the  Church,  to  Mary 
Stuart,  and  to  Spain,  and  anxious  to  play  a  part  by  the 
side  of  the  noblemen  who  were  working  for  a  revolu- 
tion in  Entrland. 

Having  thus  opened  a  way  towards  his  reception  in 
Madrid,  he  pretended  to  Sidney  that  he  wished  to  go 
in  person  to  his  mistress  and  clear  his  reputation  with 
her ;  and  Sidney,  instead  of  sending  him  over  under 
a  guard,  apparently  was  contented  with  his  parole.^ 
Stukely  told  him  that  his  defence  would  require  the 
presence  of  certain  Irish  gentlemen,  who  were  willing 
to  accompany  him  to  the  Queen.  The  Deputy  per- 
mitted him  to  purchase  and  fit  out  a  ship  at  Water- 
ford  to  transj)ort  both  them  and  himself;  and  when  at 
last  he  sailed,  it  was  pretended  that  no  one  on  board 
suspected  his  destination.  He  had  seven  or  eight 
Celtic  cavaliers  with  him,  with  their  servants  and 
horses,  and  a  miscellaneous  crew  of  adventurers. 
They  had    embarked  as    if  for  London,^  and    Sidney 

y  comun  odio  que  les  Irlandeses  tienen  a  los  Ingleses,  como  por  particular 
odio  que  todos  le  tienen  a  ^1,  por  liaber  comprado  y  ocupado  aquellas  tier- 
ras,  sabiendo  la  mayor  parte  de  Irlanda  que  ni  la  Keyna  ni  el  tiene  ningun 
deroclio  a  ellas.''  —  El  Arzobispo  de  Cashel  en  Madrid  a  vi.  de  Deciembre, 
1570:   MS.  Simancas. 

1  The  Archbishop  of  Cashel  indicates  that  Sidney  was  afraid  that  he 
might  Ije  rctiuired  to  execute  him.  He  saj's: — "La  cual  co.sa  el  Viccrey 
concfdio,  [lorque  ainsi  pienso  de  escapar  la  invidia  quo,  jiodia  haber  incur- 
rido  de  algunos  en  haber  hecho  justicia  del,  aunque  justamentc." 

'^  The  account  sent  from  Ireland  agrees  exactly'  with  the  Archbishop's 
story  at  Madrid.  .Stukely  had  with  him  two  O'Neils,  a  Geraldine,  aMac- 
malion,  a  Magenis,  a  Mad'hilip,  and  another  described  as  "  Alurty  Paddy." 
In  llie  Spanish  list  they  are  called  "  Salbaxcs,"  savages.  —  Mutes  of  the 
Irihh  with  Stukely  in  Spain,  February,  1571 :  MSS.  Ireland. 


528  History  of  England.  [Ch.  xxiv. 

professed  to  believe  that  they  were  going  there  —  but 
the  story  reads  hke  coHusion.  When  clear  of  the 
harbour  they  made  for  the  ocean ;  a  few  days  after 
they  landed  in  Gallicia,  and  sent  messengers  to  Philip 
to  announce  their  arrival.  The  Archbishop  of  Cashel, 
not  at  that  time  knowing  much  of  Stukely,  and  hear- 
ing merely  that  a  party  of  gentlemen  had  arrived  from 
Ireland,  supposed  that  their  errand  was  like  his  own, 
and  recommended  Philip  to  receive  them.i  The  Duke 
of  Feria,  who  had  perhaps  heard  of  Stukely  from  Don 
Guerau,  made  himself  responsible  for  his  character, 
and  the  King  sent  for  him  to  the  Court,  knighted  him, 
loaded  him  with  presents,  gave  him  a  palace  at  Madrid 
and  a  splendid  allowance  for  his  expenses.  He  threw 
himself  into  Philip's  schemes.  He  represented  his  influ- 
ence as  enormous,  and  Philip  was  delighted  to  believe 
him.  He  was  the  very  man  to  deal  with  the  Irish 
difficulty  as  the  Pope  and  the  King  of  Spain  desired. 

It  was  to  no  purpose  that  the  Archbishop  remon- 
strated when  he  found  how  the  wind  was  turning. 
The  young  Irish,  who  had  come  to  Spain  to  do  hom- 
age to  their  expected  sovereign,  when  they  discovered 
that  they  were  still  to  remain  attached  to  England, 
went  over  to  the  Archbishop,  accused  Stukely  of  hav- 
ing betrayed  them,  and  denounced  him  as  an  adven- 
turer. It  was  little  to  them  whether  Mary  Stuart  or 
Elizabeth  was  sovereign  of  England  if  they  were 
themselves  to  continue  slaves :  but  nothino;  moved 
the  King.  The  Archbishop  wrote  Stukely's  history : 
he  represented  him  as  an  apostate  buccaneer,  a  de- 
spised, detested,  swindhng  rogue.  But  the  political 
causes  which  rendered  him  distasteful  to  the  Irish 
recommended  him  to  Philip.  His  presence,  his  as- 
1  El  Arzobispo  de  Cashel  al  Key,  Julio  26,  1570 :  MS.  Simancas. 


1570.]  TJie  Reign  of  Elizabeth.  529 

sumption,  his  audacious  and  enormous  lies,  bore  down 
the  weight  of  opposition  ;  the  recommendation  of  the 
English  refugees  contributed  to  strengthen  the  delu- 
sion, and,  under  Stukely's  auspices,  the  Spanish  Gov- 
ernment began  serious  preparations  for  the  invasion 
and  conquest  of  Ireland.  Ships  were  collected  at  Vio-o 
with  arms  and  stores.  Ten  thousand  men  were  to  be 
raised,  and  Julian  Romero  was  to  be  recalled  from 
Flanders  to  command.  Stukely  represented  the  Nor- 
man Irish,  the  Geraldines,  the  Butlers,  the  De  Burghs, 
as  waiting  his  orders  and  ready  to  rise  at  his  call.  He 
recommended  that  Scilly  should  be  seized  first  for  a 
depot,  and,  with  Scilly  in  their  hands,  the  Spaniards 
would  command  both  channels,  and  a  few  weeks  at 
most  would  then  finish  the  work.  His  ov^^n  services 
were,  of  course,  to  be  splendidly  rewarded.  He  no 
longer  aspired  to  sovereignty,  but  nothing  less  than  a 
Duke's  coronet  would  satisfy  his  ambition.  Duke  of 
Ireland  he  already  called  himself —  Duke  of  Leinster 
was  the  less  ambitious  title  which  Philip  preferred  for 
him ;  and,  meanwhile,  he  amused  the  Spaniards  with 
his  fool's  scandal  about  Elizabeth  and  the  court,  and 
with  his  fool's  boasts  of  the  great  thino-s  which  he  was 
himself  to  do  to  her.^  He  would  bring  the  Pope  upon 
her  neck  ;  he  would  give  her  crown  to  the  good  Queen 

1  "  Master  Stukely  said  to  the  King  of  Spain's  Council  and  to  other 
gentlemen  of  Spain,  that  the  Queen's  Majesty  will  beat  Secretary  Cecil 
about  the  ears  when  he  di.scontenteth  her,  and  he  Avill  weep  like  a  oliild. 
The  Spaniards  asking  him  why  the  Queen's  Highness  doth  not  marry,  he 
said  she  would  never  marrj-,  for  she  cannot  abide  a  woman  with  child,  for 
she  saith  those  women  be  worse  than  a  sow.  He  also  said  he  is  no  subject 
to  her  Majesty,  but  sworn  subject  to  the  King  of  Spain;  'but,'  quoth  he, 
'what  hurt  I  can  do  her  or  an}-  of  hers  I  will  do  it.  I  will  make  her  vilely 
afraid.  I  will  make  her  wish  herself  again  in  her  mother's  belly,'  with 
Other  words  of  her  Highness  and  her  mother  too  loathsome  to  express."  — 
Depositions  relating  to  Mr.  Stukely's  Doings  in  Spain,  August,  1571:  MSS. 
Dwiiegtic. 

VOL.  X.  31 


530  History  of  England.  [Ch.  xxiv. 

of  Scots,  and  he  would  make  his  friends  as  good  Lords 
as  Cecil.  He  would  stay  the  Queen's  "  frisking  and 
dancing,"  and  teach  her  what  it  was  to  affront  a  sol- 
dier. He  would  eat  his  Christmas  pie  with  the  Lord 
Deputy,  and  pluck  the  George  from  his  neck  ;  and 
then,  settled  in  his  dukedom,  he  and  his  children  after 
him,  "  he  would  live  merrily,  and  build  him  a  fair 
abbey,  and  have  in  it  four-and-twenty  friars,  one  to 
pray  for  him  every  hour  of  the  day  and  night,  and 
there  be  buried."  ^ 

Another  glimpse  of  Stukely  at  Madrid  comes 
throuoh  two  letters  from  a  certain  Oliver  Kino;  to 
Cecil.  The  convulsions  of  the  Reformation  had  cov- 
ered the  Continent  with  wanderino-  Eno;lishmen  seek- 
ing  employment.  King  had  been  an  officer  in  the 
train  of  the  Duke  of  Guise  during  the  French  wars. 
He  was  paid  off  at  the  peace,  and  had  gone  to  Spain 
to  take  service  against  the  Moors.  While  at  the 
Spanish  Court  "  a  certain  Duke  of  Ireland,"  he  wrote, 
"  otherwise  called  Master  Stukely,  being  advertised 
of  what  I  had  done  against  the  Prince  of  Cond^, 
procured  that  I  might  speak  with  him.  When  I  came 
to  him  he  offered  me  the  greatest  courtesy  in  the 
world,  gave  me  apparel  better  than  I  was  accustomed 
to  wear,  and  entertained  me  with  great  and  marvellous 
liberality.  In  a  short  time  he  declared  unto  me  that 
he  with  diligence  must  depart  unto  his  country  of  Ire- 
land with  ten  thousand  men,  in  the  which  army  he 
would  have  employed  me  for  to  have  undermined  the 
forts  of  Dingle,  Wexford,  and  Waterford,  with  many 
other  castles  which  were  enemies  unto  this  good  Duke 
Stukely.  But  when  I  did  see  all  his  provision  of  sol- 
diers and  his  intentions  against  mv  Prince  and  country, 

1  Depositions  relating  to  Mr.  Stukely's  Doings  in  Spain,  August,  1571: 
MSS.  Domestic. 


is"i]  The  Reign  of  Elizabeth.  531 

I  presently  desired  him  of  leave,  and  declared  unto 
him  that  I  came  to  serve  the  King,  and  that  I  would 
not,  while  I  had  life,  bear  arms  against  my  natural 
Prince,  neither  against  my  country  wherein  I  was 
born.  On  the  which  he  called  me  a  villain  and  a 
traitor,  and  caused  me  to  be  taken  prisoner  for  a  Lu- 
teryan  in  his  house.  But  a  certain  knight,  Don  Fran- 
cesco, which  kept  him  company,  did  well  see  every 
day  that  I  did  go  to  mass,  and  knocked  my  breast  as 
well  as  they,  and  so  he  answered  for  me  that  I  was 
no  Luteryan.  And  when  this  good  Duke  did  see  that 
he  might  not  put  me  to  death  by  the  Inquisition,  he 
caused  me  to  come  forth  in  the  presence  of  the  knight 
and  certain  captains  of  his,  witli  all  his  gentlemen  and 
yeomen,  and  stripped  me  unto  my  shirt,  and  banished 
me  the  town  of  Madrid,  giving  me  but  four  hours' 
respite  to  depart  upon  ])ain  of  the  gallows." 

King,  having  had  enough  of  Spain,  made  his  way 
to  Pampeluna,  and  back  through  the  Pyrenees  into 
France.  When  beyond  the  frontiers,  he  wrote  once 
more  to  Cecil  to  im[)ress  upon  him  the  real  danger  from 
Stukely's  machinations.  The  Spaniards  certainly  in- 
tended, he  said,  to  make  a  descent  either  on  Ireland  or 
on  England  ;  and  "  he  would  only  pray  that  the  plagues 
might  not  light  on  his  own  noble  country  which  he  had 
seen  in  France  —  the  fruits  of  the  earth  devoured  by 
soldiers,  and  the  widows,  wives,  and  virgins  defiled  with 
strangers."  "  The  Duke's  Grace  Stukely  had  re- 
ceived tlie  Sacrament,  and  promised  to  render  unto 
the  King  of  Spain  not  only  entrance  within  his  duchy, 
but  also  possession  of  the  whole  realm  of  Ireland. 
The  soldiers  were  amassing  from  all  parts  of  Spain  — 
Spaniards,  Burgundians,  Italians,  the  most  part  Bezo- 
nians,  beggarly,  ill-armed  rascals,    but  their    captains 


532  History  of  England.  [Ch.  xxiv. 

old  beaten  men  of  war.  The  King  was  spaiing  no 
cost  on  the  enterprise,  and  no  honours  to  Stukely, 
hoping  by  such  means  to  enlarge  his  empire."  ^ 

For  two  years  the  farce  continued.  The  Irish  were 
discontented  at  the  turn  which  Spanish  policy  had 
taken.  The  leading  English  Catholics  were  sickened 
at  the  favours  which  were  heaped  upon  a  charlatan. 
Yet  they  were  both  obliged  to  welcome  Philip's  as- 
sistance in  the  form  in  which  he  chose  to  offer  it ;  and 
Stukely  was  maintained  in  glory  at  Madrid,  or  was 
sunning  himself  at  Rome  under  the  patronage  of  Pope 
Pius,  till  at  length  the  discovery  of  the  conspiracy  in 
England,  the  execution  of  Norfolk,  and  the  increasing 
difficulties  in  Flanders  forced  PhiUp  to  seek  his  own 
safety  by  abandoning  his  dreams  and  by  returning  to 
his  old  alliance  with  Elizabeth. 

Ireland,  meanwhile,  remained  simmering  in  half-ex- 
plosive rebellion.  Every  day  the  armada  was  looked 
for  at  Galway  or  Dungarvan,  while  the  English  garri- 
sons spent  their  time  in  plunder  or  mutiny,  or  in  mas- 
sacres as  useless  as  they  were  brutal.  Sir  Henry 
Sidney  obtained  at  last  the  recall  for  which  he  had 
sued  so  long.  He  had  ovennin  the  four  provinces,  he 
had  blown  up  castles  and  harried  towns,  and  had 
all  the  chiefs  in  the  country  one  by  one  under  his  feet. 
It  was  the  way  of  a  bird  in  the  air,  the  way  of  a  ship 
upon  the  sea,  the  way  of  a  serpent  upon  the  rock. 
The  reeds  bent  under  the  wind  ;  when  the  wind  had 
passed  by  they  were  in  their  old  place,  and  he  could 
only  long  to  turn  his  back  forever  on  the  scene  of  so 
profitless  a  service.  The  Archbishop  of  Dublin  en- 
treated Cecil  not  to  listen  to  his  prayer.  "  In  all  the 
realm,"  he  said,  "  there  was  no  such  pilot  for  stormy 
1  Oliver  King  to  Burghley,  February  18, 1572:  MSS.  Spain. 


1571.]  The  Reign  of  Elizaheth.  633 

weather."  ^  But  Sidney's  urgency  submitted  to  no  op- 
position, and  on  the  25th  of  March  he  left  Ireland  to 
its  fate.  The  Queen,  from  whom  he  had  received 
small  acknowledgment,  after  an  interval  and  not  very 
graciously,  offered  him  a  peerage  ;  but  as  she  did  not 
accompany  his  promotion  with  a  grant  of  land  or 
money,  he  declined  an  honour  which  would  have  bur- 
dened further  his  already  impoverished  estate.^  The 
government  was  left  in  the  hands  of  the  old  Treasurer, 
Sir  William  Fitzwilliam,  once  an  able  soldier,  but  now 
past  work  ;  and  his  appointment  was  a  tacit  intimation 
that  the  attempt  to  coerce  the  Irish  was  for  the  present 
at  an  end.  The  Establishment  at  Dublin  was  again 
reduced  ;  the  garrisons  in  the  scattered  castles  were 
dismissed  or  cut  down  ;  and  the  allowances  which  had 
been  hitherto  made  to  noblemen  calling  themselves 
loyal  were  stopped.^  Scheme  after  scheme  for  the  im- 
provement of  the  country  having  failed,  Lord  Burghley 
had  to  find  means  of  discharging  the  enormous  debt 
which  had  been  incurred  in  the  attempt. 

The  outlook  this  way  was  not  hopeful.  The  public 
officers,  like  the  President  of  Connaught,  had  been  left 
to  maintain  themselves  on  their  })rivate  means.  The 
soldiers  had  been  paid  with  notes  of  hand,  which  for  a 

1  Adam  Loftus  to  Cecil,  October  20,  1570:  MSS.  Ireland. 

2  "  My  husband  is  greatly  dismayed  with  the  hard  choice  offered  him, 
either  to  be  a  Harciii  in  the  ii umber  of  tliose  more  able  than  himself  to 
maintain  it  withal,  or,  in  refusinf;,  to  incur  her  Ilighness's  displeasure. 
"We  have  no  ability  to  maintain  a  higher  title  than  we  now  possess.  Con- 
sider a  poor  perplexed  woman  to  see  her  husband  thus  hardly  dealt  with. 
Since  no  better  grace  will  be  obtained  to  enable  us  to  a  higher  title,  let  the 
motion  be  no  further  oflered.  Stay  the  motion  of  this  title  and  surely  we 
Bhall  think  ourselves  most  bound  to  you."  —  Lady  Sidney  to  Uurghley, 
May  2,  1.572:  J/S.  Ibid. 

8  "  Nor  does  it  appear  why  her  Majesty  should  continue  to  pay  for  a 
hundred  Kerne  serving  the  Karl  of  Kildare."  —  Articles  for  the  reduction 
of  Irish  expenditure,  March  -i,  1571:  MH.  Ibid. 


534  History  of  England.  [Ch.  xxtv. 

time  tliey  had  forced  upon  the  country  people  ;  but 
the  notes  sunk  at  last  so  low  in  public  esteem,  that 
the  J  had  scarcely  a  nominal  value,  and  the  garri- 
sons had  then  extorted  what  tliey  required  under  the 
name  of  Cess  to  the  Crown.  They  were  thus  mere 
gangs  of  organised  robbers,  who  lived  by  plunder,  and 
whose  main  occupation  was  to  kill.  They  had  become 
so  worthless  for  fighting  purposes,  that  Fitzwilliam 
thoucrht  a  hundred  of  them  would  run  before  a  score 
of  Alva's  Spaniards.  "  The  despair  of  payment  "  had 
bred  disorders,  he  said,  which  would  move  any  Chris- 
tian man's  heart  to  solicit  a  reformation.  The  Crown 
did  not  pay  the  officers,  the  officers  did  not  pay  the 
men,  the  men  did  not  pay  the  farmers,  and  the  farmers 
could  pay  no  rent  to  their  landlords  ;  all  was  poverty, 
confusion,  and  discontent.  The  state  of  the  Pale  and 
the  countries  bordering  on  it  was  so  intolerable,  that 
any  remedy  seemed  better  than  none  ;  and  Burghley 
was  recommended  to  buy  up  the  depreciated  bonds  at 
the  price  for  which  they  were  being  sold  by  the  farm- 
ers.^ It  was  thought  that  the  unfortunate  people 
would  gladly  compound  for  what  they  could  get,  if  only 
the  exactions  might  cease,  and  if  for  the  future  they 
might  have  ready  money  for  what  they  provided. ^ 
Fitzwilliam  made  a  schedule  of  the  outstandino-  obli- 
gations,  which  he  sent  homo,  with  a  prayer,  that  "  God 
would  deliver  him  for  the  future  from  such  evil  reck- 
onings."    He  was  himself  drifting  slowly  to  ruin,  as 

1  "  The  despair  of  payment  is  of  all  parts  so  great  as  offering,  as  they 
do,  to  strangers  these  bills  and  warrants  for  a  third  part  less  than  the  debt, 
it  is  to  be  presumed  that  it  this  were  dealt  withal  by  discreet  and  well- 
wishing  commissioners,  these  debts  to  the  country  might  be  paid  with  great 
ease  to  the  Queen's  Majesty."  —  Notes  on  the  state  of  Ireland,  by  Edward 
Trema}-ne.    Endorsed  by  Burghley  "  A  good  advice,"  June,  1571. 

2  Ibid. 


1571.]  The  Rdgn  of  Elizabeth.  535 

he  boldly  said  that  Sidney  had  been  ruined  before  him. 
He  received  some  salary  indeed,  but  he  received  it  in 
the  debased  Irish  coin,  while  he  had  to  pay  for  every- 
thing in  the  exaggerated  prices  which  the  universal 
disorder  had  occasioned.^  The  country  was  swarming 
with  "  Spanish  spies  and  vermin."  He  cauglit  and 
hano-ed  a  few  of  them  :  but  their  numbers  and  their 
boldness  seemed  to  multiply  with  the  executions.  The 
cloud  of  the  threatened  Spanish  invasion  hung  still  un- 
broken, and  "  he  had  neither  money,  victuals,  armour, 
weapons,  or  men."  If  the  armada  came,  he  said  he 
would  sell  his  best  lands  in  Milton  to  hold  his  ground  ; 
but  all  that  he  could  raise  in  that  way  would  be  but  a 
drop  of  water  in  the  sea  ;  and  either  death  or  captivity, 
or,  at  the  best,  "  beggary,"  was  the  alternative  to 
which  he  looked  forward  as  the  reward  of  his  "  four- 
teen years'  service."  ^  The  Border  tribes  harried  the 
Pale  at  their  pleasure.  TIrlogh  Lenogh  recovered  from 
his  wounds,  and  set  about  the  old  work  with  renewed 
vigour.  The  representative  of  the  Majesty  of  Eng- 
land, In  his  desperate  extremity,  was  driven  to  borrow 
some  plate,  and  pawn  it  again  to  raise  a  handful  of  men 
to  cover  Dundalk  ;  ^  while  the  O'Connors,  the  Roches, 
the  MacShans,  the  Burkes,  like  clouds  of  their  own 
midiies,  were  stinoln";  into  his  naked  side.*  "  The  state 
of  that  dear  jewel  Ireland,"  he  said,  "  was  sucli  a 
weight  and  burden  to  him,  as  jealousy  thereof,  with  the 
danger  of  foreign  invasion,  would  not  let  him  eat  or 

1  Petition  of  Lady  Fitzwilliam,  December  11,  1571:  M^S.  Ireland. 

2  Fitzwilliam  to  Hurghley,  April  15. 

3  "  Tirlogli  Lenogli  is  in  the  field  with  all  the  power  lie  can  raise.  I 
have  sent  such  footmen  as  I  could.  To  do  it  I  was  fain  to  pawn  six  score 
pounds'  worth  of  plale  wiiicli  I  horrowed  for  that  purpose."  —  Fitzwilliam 
to  burghlcy,  iJeceuiber  (J :  MtiH.  Inland. 

4  Same  to  the  same,  April  12. 


536  History  of  England.  [Ch.  xxiv. 

sleep;"    and  he  implored  Burghley,  either  "to  send 
him  money,  or  else  devise  to  bury  him."  ^ 

The  spiritual  disorganisation  of  the  country  was  even 
more  desperate  than  the  social.  Whatever  might  have 
been  the  other  faults  of  the  Irish  people,  they  had 
been  at  least  eminent  for  their  piety.  The  multitude 
of  churches  and  monasteries,  which  in  their  ruins  meet 
everywhere  the  stranger's  eye,  witness  conclusively  to 
their  possession  of  this  single  virtue ;  for  the  religious 
houses  in  such  a  state  of  society  could  not  have  ex- 
isted at  all  unless  protected  by  the  consenting  rever- 
ence of  the  whole  population.  But  the  religious  houses 
were  gone,  and  the  prohibition  of  the  Mass  had  closed 
the  churches,  except  in  districts  which  were  in  armed 
and  open  rebellion.  For  many  years,  over  the  greater 
part  of  Ireland  public  worship  was  at  an  end.  The 
Reformed  clergy  could  not  venture  beyond  the  coast 
towns,    and   in    these    they  were  far   from  welcome.^ 

1  Fitzwilliam  to  Burghley,  December  6 :  MSB.  Ireland. 

2  The  intrusive  religion  was  not  recommended  by  the  brilliancy  of  its 
moral  influences.     In  the  year  1570  Doctor  Richard  Dixon  was  appointed 
Protestant  Bishop  of  Corlv.     Eighteen  months  later  Adam  Loftus,  the  Arch- 
bishop of   Dublin,  had  to  write   the  following  letter  about  hiiu  to  Lord 
Burghley :  — 

"  Please  your  Lordship,  —  Whereas  Richard  Bishop  of  Cork,  notwith- 
standing he  had  and  hath  a  married  wife,  did,  under  colour  of  matrimony, 
take  and  retain  another  woman  of  suspected  life  in  the  city  of  Cork  as  his 
wife,  and  thereof  by  public  fame  and  crying  out  of  that  his  deed,  the 
matter  coming  to  our  ears,  he  being  called  before  us  to  answer  thereunto, 
confessed  the  same;  and  we,  considering  the  heinousness  of  that  turpitude 
and  sin,  the  great  exclamation  of  the  whole  realm  against  him,  and  the 
offence  and  slander  engendered  by  that  his  fact  against  the  professors  of 
God's  Word,  namely  Bishops  and  their  marriages,  to  the  no  little  glory  of 
the  adversaries  and  grief  of  the  godly,  thought  meet  that  he  should  do 
public  penance  for  the  same,  and  also  that  we  should  depose  him  from  his 
bishopric.  For  the  first  part  it  is  already  done.  He,  like  a  penitent,  came 
to  the  Cathedral  Church  of  Dublin,  and  there,  standing  under  the  pulpit, 
acknowledged  his  offence,  though  not  in  such  penitent  sort  as  was  thought 
meet  to  put  away  the  oflence  of  so  grievous  a  crime.  For  the  deposition, 
doubting  Avhether  we  were  sufficiently  warranted  to  depose  a  Bishop,  we 


1571.]  The  Reign  of  Elizabeth.  537 

The  priests  continued  to  confess  and  administer  the 
Sacraments,  but  it  was  in  the  chiefs'  castles,  or  at  sta- 
tions in  the  mountain  glens,  to  scanty  and  scattered 
families,  and  the  single  restraint  upon  the  passions  of 
the  people  was  fast  disappearing. 

"  Religion  hath  no  place,"  reported  Tremayne. 
"  There  is  neither  fear  nor  love  of  God,  nor  reo-ard  for 
faith  nor  oaths.  They  murder,  ravish,  spoil,  burn, 
commit  whoredom,  break  wedlock,  change  wives  with- 
out grudge  of  conscience." 

The  bridges,  the  especial  charge  of  the  religious 
orders,  fell  to  ruins.  The  chiefs  took  possession  of  the 
Church  lands,  the  churches  fell  in  and  went  to  ruin, 
and  the  unfortunate  country  seemed  lapsing  into  total 
savagery.  Colonisation,  once  the  remedy  from  which 
Tremayne  had  formed  such  brilliant  hopes,  he  now, 
after  a  year's  experience,  utterly  abandoned.  The 
English  settlers,  he  found  everywhere,  became  worse 
than  the  Irish,  in  all  the  qualities  in  which  the  Irish 
were  most  in  fault.  No  native  Celt  hated  Eno-land 
more  bitterly  than  the  transported  Saxon.  The  forms 
of  English  justice  might  be  introduced,  but  juries  com- 
bined to  defeat  the  ends  for  which  they  were  instituted, 
and  every  one  in  authority,  English  or  Irish,  preferred 
to  rule  after  the  Irish  system. 

"  None,"  Tremayne  said,  "  will  govern  after  English 

thought  good  to  suspenfl  our  further  proceedings  until  we  were  further  re- 
solved; and  iiaving  no  great  trust  in  the  lawj'ers  here,  our  request  is  that 
it  will  please  your  Lordship,  after  conference  with  such  learned  lawyers  as 
you  shall  think  meet,  to  direct  us  what  we  may  do.  And  if  it  appear  that 
we  may  not  proceed  therein,  it  will  please  your  Lordship  to  think  of  some 
good  order  to  be  taken  therein,  as  by  private  commission  to  such  as  her 
Majesty  shall  please  to  appoint."  —  The  Archbishop  of  Dublin  to  Lord 
Burghley.  V>1\:   MSS.  Ireland. 

In  ronsc(|ucnce  of  this  letter  a  commission  was  appointed,  of  which  the 
Archbishop  was  a  member,  to  try  the  case;  and  Iticiiard  Dixon  was  de- 
prived of  his  bishopric  by  tlie  Queen's  authority,  November  26,  1571.  — 
MS.  Ibid. 


538  History  of  England,  [Ch.  xxiv. 

law  that  may  be  suffered  to  rule  after  the  other  sort ; 
for  it  doth  not  only  draw  to  the  captains  tlie  obedience 
of  the  people,  but  the  gains  of  all  forfeitures  almost 
after  his  own  judgment ;  and  in  this  kind  of  govern- 
ment our  own  nation  is  grown  so  perfect,  as  if  any  do 
attain  the  rule  of  a  country,  he  frameth  himself  by 
these  means  to  attend  his  profit  and  authority.  Such 
as  have  any  settling  are  made  the  unfitter  for  all  ref- 
ormation, so  much  they  regard  their  own  particular 
beyond  the  general." 

The  destruction  of  religion,  the  corruption  of  justice, 
the  perversion  of  law,  were  sufficient  in  themselves  to 
account  for  Irish  misery.  If  to  these  were  added  "  the 
great  abuse  of  the  army,  provided  to  be  the  defence 
of  the  good,  and  become  the  devourer  of  those  that 
yielded  the  men  their  nutriment,"  it  was  no  marvel  to 
Tremayne  why  the  country  grew  daily  from  bad  to 
worse,  and  all  was  lost  that  was  spent. 

In  conclusion,  he  could  but  emphatically  dissuade 
Cecil  from  depriving  the  chiefs  of  their  estates.  The 
English  who  would  come  over  to  take  their  places, 
were  men,  for  the  most  part,  who  were  doing  no  good 
at  home,  and  would  do  worse  in  Ireland.  "  Estab- 
lish a  sound  government,"  he  said  ;  "  give  the  Irish 
good  laws  and  good  justice,  and  let  them  keep  their 
lands  for  themselves."  ^ 

It  was  easy  to  advise,  it  was  impossible  to  execute. 
The  most  ordinary  intelligence  could  perceive  that  the 
requisite  of  Ireland  was  a  good  government ;  but  good 
government  implied  an  outlay  of  money.  With  5000 
police  regularly  paid,  and  under  proper  discipline  ; 
with  impartial  justice,  and  the  abandonment  once  and 

1  ''Causes  why  Ireland   is  not  reformed."  —  Endorsed  Mr.   Tremayne, 
June,  1571:  MSS.  Ireland. 


1571.]  Tlie  Reign  of  Elkaheth.  539 

forever  of  all  designs  of  confiscation  ;  with  a  prompt 
end  to  tlie  massacres  which  were  bringing  infamy  on 
the  English  name,  and  with  some  reasonable  policy  in 
Church  matters ;  with  these  and  an  intelligent  Vice- 
roy, duly  supported  from  home  at  Dublin  Castle,  Ire- 
land might  have  been  kept  quiet  with  ease  till  the  peo- 
ple had  forgotten  to  be  troublesome  ;  but  it  required 
money,  and  money  was  simply  not  to  be  had.  The 
Qneen  could  not  give  it,  for  she  had  not  got  it.  The 
whole  Protestant  world  were  clamouring  for  help  at 
the  doors  of  the  English  treasuiy ;  had  Parliament 
filled  her  lap  with  gold,  little  of  it  could  have  been 
spared  for  Ireland ;  and  thus  the  poor  country  drifted 
on  before  the  stream  of  the  age  from  misery  to  misery. 
In  one  only  of  the  four  provinces  Elizabeth  con- 
sented that  exertions  should  continue  to  be  made.  If 
the  Spaniards  came,  they  would  inevitably  land  in 
Waterford,  Cork,  or  Kerry.  To  leave  it  in  the  hands 
of  the  Geraldines  was  to  reward  rebellion,  and  to  open 
the  door  to  invasion  ;  and,  as  the  confiscation  scheme 
had  broken  down,  the  Queen  consented  at  last,  with 
extreme  unwillino;ness,  to  the  measures  so  Ions  uro;ed 
upon  her  by  Sir  Henry  Sidney.  The  disaster  of  Sir 
Edward  Fitton  was  a  poor  encouragement  to  provincial 
presidencies,  but  the  experiment  had  been  tried  in 
Connaught  under  conditions  which  made  success  im- 
possible. Another  attempt  was  to  be  made  in  the 
South,  and  Sir  John  Perrot,  a  soldier  by  i^rofession, 
reported  by  Catholic  scandal  to  be  a  natural  son  of 
Henry  VIII.,  was  appointed  President  of  Munster. 
Before  Perrot  would  accept  the  offer,  he  stipulated 
that  a  year's  salary  to  himself,  and  a  year's  wages  to 
his  men,  should  be  paid  in  advance  ;  that  he  should  be 
supplied  regularly  from  England  with  military  stores ; 


540  History  of  England.  [Cn.  xx:v. 

that  he  should  be  empowered  to  receive  the  dues  of 
the  Crown,  and  might  deduct  his  own  expenses  before 
they  were  passed  on  to  the  Treasury.^ 

These  demands  were  considered  reasonable  ;  and  in 
the  spring  of  1571,  Perrot  arrived  at  Cork  with  a  hand- 
ful of  English  soldiers,  and  a  Protestant  Archbishop 
of  Cashel  to  take  charge  —  if  he  could  get  hold  of 
them  —  of  the  flock  of  his  Catholic  rival.  The  new 
prelate  was  more  zealous  than  wise,  and  before  Perrot 
had  drawn  his  sword,  opened  his  own  campaign  by 
seizing  and  imprisoning  a  number  of  friars.  A  brief 
notice  which  was  served  upon  him  by  Fitzmaurice, 
taught  him  that  he  was  no  longer  in  England,  and  that 
a  game  of  that  kind  might  be  dangerous.  Fitzmaurice 
sent  him  word  that  unless  the  friars  were  at  once  re- 
leased, he  should  be  hanged  ;  and  that  any  living  man 
who  supported  him,  or  paid  him  rent  or  cess,  should 
have  his  house  burnt  over  his  head.  Thus  admonished, 
he  thought  it  prudent  to  comply,  and  to  be  content  for 
the  future  with  a  barren  title.^ 

Perrot's  work,  when  he  began  it,  was  more  effectual, 
and  his  campaigns  were  a  repetition  of  Sidney's.  He 
went  wherever  he  pleased,  "  trotting  the  mountains  " 
from  Killarney  and  Glengariff  to  Waterford.  He  could 
never  catch  Fitzmaurice.  The  Irish  gentlemen  would 
not  help  him,  and  the  kerne  were  too  swift  of  foot  for 
the  heavy  English  men-at-arms.  Castles,  however, 
could  not  run  away,  and  castles  contained  men.  After 
two  years  of  work,  he  had  killed  in  fighting,  or  cap- 
tured and  hanged,  some  eight  hundred  miserable  creat- 
ures of  one  sort  or  another.^     He  burnt  or  blew  up 

1  Requests  of  Sir  John  Perrot,  1571 :  MSS.  Ireland. 

2  James  Fitzmaurice   to  the  Archbishop  of  Cashel,  July  9,  1571:  MS. 
Ibid. 

3  Perrot  to  the  Council,  April  9, 1573:  MS.  Ibid 


1571.]  The  Reign  of  Elizabeth.  541 

every  stronghold,  large  or  small,  which  closed  its  gates 
against  him.  He  took  Castlemayne,  in  K*^rry,  after  a 
two  months'  siege,  and  Fitzmaurice  was  reduced  to  a 
wandering  life  among  the  hills.  The  roads  became 
again  moderately  safe,  and  travellers  could  pass  be- 
tween Youghal,  Waterford,  Limerick,  and  Cork  with 
a  chance  of  not  being  murdered.  But  a  fatality  hung 
over  everything.  To  reach  the  principal  rebel,  Per- 
rot  challenged  him,  and  offered  to  refer  the  Irish  quar- 
rel to  a  combat  of  champions,  twelve  to  twelve. 
Wliether  in  case  of  defeat  he  was  empowered  to  yield 
the  country  in  his  mistress's  name,  or  Avhether  Fitz- 
maurice's  death  would  be  accepted  as  decisive  by  the 
other  Irish  chiefs,  he  did  not  stay  to  consider.  Time 
and  place  were  agreed  upon,  and  the  President,  as  a 
set-off  against  Sidney's  harshness,  wrote  to  Orinond  to 
bee;  that  Sir  Edward  Butler  would  make  one  of  the 
English  party.i  Ormond,  "at  his  wits'  end  "  at  such 
an  extraordinary  piece  of  folly,  repaired  to  the  scene 
of  action  "  to  prevent  the  combat."  Fitzmaurice,  sus- 
pecting treachery,  did  not  appear,^  and  Perrot  had  to 
fall  back  upon  the  hanging  and  burning  which  formed 
the  principal  subject  of  all  his  reports.  This  he  was 
able  to  accomplish  ;  but  the  ultimate  success  of  such 
measures  depended  on  a  further  condition,  and  in  the 
attempt  to  extract  a  revenue  out  of  the  unhappy  coun- 
try, to  make  it  pay  for  its  desolation,  he  utterly  failed. 
He  could  plunge  through  bogs  and  rivers,  force  his 
way  among  glens  and  gorges,  and  send  the  Irish  fly- 
iu""  like  wild  birds  amono;  their  crags  ;  but  he  could 
squeeze  no  money  out  of  them  ;  and  wlien  his  year's 
pay  was  out,  he  was  left  like  Fitton  and  Fitzwilliam. 

i-  Sir  John  I'errot  to  Ormond,  November  18,  1571 :  Mt^S.  Ireland. 
2  Fitzwilliam  to  Elizabeth,  February  28,  1572:  MS.  Ibid. 


542  History  of  England.  [Ch.  xxiv. 

His  men  grew  mutinous,  and  he  could  not  reconcile 
his  soldier  habits  to  a  looseness  of  discipline.  Com- 
plaints against  his  severity  were  showered  across  the 
Channel  by  his  officers,  to  which  Elizabeth  gave  ready 
hearing  ;  Fitzvvilliam,  who  sympathised  in  his  suffer- 
ings, told  Burghley  that  "  Perrot  was  but  receiving 
the  usual  reward  of  Ireland  to  those  who  sought  its 
reformation  ; "  and  Perrot  himself,  in  fierce  contempt, 
declared  "  that  he  had  done  his  duty  as  well  as  his 
means  would  allow  him,  and  if  he  was  to  be  found  fault 
with  for  every  trifle,  he  would  rather  remain  in  the 
Tower  seven  years  than  continue  in  his  Presidency." 

One  active  episode  broke  the  monotony  of  wretched- 
ness. Fitzmaurice,  in  May,  1572,  went  up  into  Ulster, 
collected  fifteen  hundred  Scots,  and  came  down  upon 
the  Shannon.  Plis  first  step  was  to  burn  Athlone. 
The  scanty  guard  which  was  left  in  the  castle  watched 
the  work  from  the  battlements,  and  dared  not  venture 
out  to  interfere  with  it.  Fitzwilliam  expected  that  he 
would  turn  upon  the  Pale.  He  called  out  all  the  Eng- 
lish force  which  remained  to  him.  It  consisted  of  five 
hundred  ragged  ruffians,  all  told.  He  sent  an  express 
to  Elizabeth  for  assistance ;  he  said  that  unless  he  was 
reheved,  he  would  not  answer  for  the  country.i  Eliza- 
beth told  him  shortly  that  she  would  be  troubled  with 
no  such  matter.  She  could  spare  neither  men  nor 
money,  and  he  must  take  his  chance.^  Fitzmaurice's 
views  were  fortunately  fastened  upon  Munster.  He 
moved  from  Athlone  to  Portumna,  where  he  was  joined 
by  the  De  Burghs,  and  then  crossed  the  river  into  Lim- 
erick. Perrot,  who  desired  nothing  better  than  to 
have  Fitzmaurice  within  reach  of  his  arm,  hurried  up 

1  Fitzwilliam  to  Elizabeth.  July  24,  1572:  MSS.  Ireland. 

2  Elizabeth  to  Eitzwilliam,  August  5:  M^.  Ibid. 


1572.]  The  Reign  of  Elizabeth.  543 

to  the  woods,  in  which  he  was  reported  to  be  lying, 
between  Kihiialloch  and  the  Shannon.  The  waters 
were  out.  The  horses  could  not  traveL  The  men 
splashed  two  abreast  along  the  shaking  turf  tracks 
which  crossed  the  bogs.  He  got  at  the  Scots  at  last, 
cut  them  in  two,  hurled  half  of  them  into  Lough  Derg, 
and  chased  the  rest  into  Tipperary.  There,  a  few 
days  later,  he  overtook,  and  might  have  destroyed 
them,  but  the  army  used  the  opportunity  to  mutiny, 
and  told  him  that  they  would  do  no  more  fighting  till 
they  were  paid  their  wages.  Perrot  swore  he  would 
hang  the  ringleaders.  The  men  were  respectful,  but 
resolute.  "  If  one  was  hanged,"  they  said,  "  they 
would  all  hang  for  company ;  "  and  he  was  compelled 
to  draw  oif,  and  see  his  prey  escape  him.^ 

By  desperate  efforts  he  pacified  the  immediate  clam- 
our. Again  he  surprised  Fitzmaurice  at  Ardagh,  and 
killed  thirty  wretches  who  were  sleeping  in  their  cab- 
ins. He  apologised  for  the  smallness  of  "  the  number," 
but  '*  considerinor  their  cowardliness,  and  the  careful 
watch  tliey  ke})t,  it  was  thought  as  much,"  he  said, 
"  to  kill  thirty  in  Munster  as  a  thousand  in  other 
places."  ^  A  month  later,  the  Butlers  destroyed  a 
hundred  more,  sent  their  heads  to  rot  on  the  gates 
of  Limerick,  and  so  made  a  final  end  of  the  Scotch 
invasion.^ 

This  success  was  the  last,  and  the  results  of  Perrot's 
exertions  were  soon  summed  up.  He  himself  had  shot 
and  cut  in  pieces  eight  hundred  Irish,  and  had  drowned 
some  hundreds  of  Scots.  The  Butlers  during  the 
same  time  accounted  for  four  hundred.     Forty  or  fifty 

1  Perrot  to  Fitzwilliain,  September  12,  September  16,  1572;   Perrot  to 
Cecil,  Novembf-r  2:   .\fHS.  Irelund. 

2  Perrot  to  Cecil,  November  2:  MS.  Ibid. 
8  Fitzwiiliam  to  Elizabeth,  December  1. 


544  History  of  England.  [Ch.  xxiv 

petty  cliiefs  had  been  hanged,  and  as  many  castles 
blown  up.  The  supplies  were  finally  stopped,  and  the 
troops  had  now  to  be  disbanded.  An  intimation  was 
sent  to  Fitzmaurice  that  he  had  now  seen  that  the 
English  could  chastise  him  if  they  pleased.  They 
hoped  he  would  profit  by  the  lesson  ;  and  if  he  would 
promise  to  be  a  loyal  subject  for  the  future,  he  might 
now  be  pardoned.  Fitzmaurice  was  satisfied  with 
conditions  which  were  a  confession  of  a  want  of  power 
to  punish  him  further,  and  the  President  had  the  satis- 
faction of  seeing  the  Earl  of  Desmond's  brother  on  his 
knees  in  the  mud  at  his  feet.  Sir  John's  temperament 
was  sanguine,  and  his  mode  of  argument  was  peculiar. 
Fitzmaurice  was  profuse  in  his  declarations  that  he 
would  never  offend  again  ;  and  the  President  reported 
that,  "  although  he  would  much  have  preferred  having 
the  rebel's  head,"  yet  as  that  could  not  be,  "  he 
thought  verily  he  would  prove  a  second  St.  Paul  for 
the  service  which  he  was  like  to  do."  ^  So  ended  the 
first  Presidency  of  Munster.  It  would  not  support  its 
cost,  and,  unless  some  plan  could  be  found  to  govern 
Ireland  which  would  pay  its  expenses,  Elizabeth  seemed 
contented  that  Ireland  should  not  be  governed.  Fitz- 
william  declared  that  he  could  not  remain  in  office  on 
those  terms.  Sidney  was  entreated  to  return,  but  Sid- 
ney roughly  refused.  Lord  Grey  de  Wilton  was  ap- 
plied to  next,  but  Lord  Grey  declined  also  ;  and  when 
pressed  further,  "fell  sick  from  grief  of  mind  "  at  the 
fate  with  which  he  was  threatened.  The  Viceroyalty 
of  Ireland  had  become  in  the  eyes  of  English  noblemen 
a  synonym  for  lost  credit,  ruined  fortune,  vexation, 
disappointment,  distraction,  madness.  No  one  could 
be  found  to  undertake  it,  and  Fitzwilliam,  therefore, 

1  Report  of  the  President  of  Munster,  December  8. 


1572.]  The  Reign  of  Elizabeth.  545 

was  compelled  to  stay  and  drift  before  the  wind,  trust- 
ing to  chance,  to  the  non-arrival  of  the  Spaniards,  and 
to  the  Earl  of  Ormond,  whose  solitary  loyalty  the  new 
Archbishop  of  Cashel  had  done  his  best  to  shake  by 
stirring  the  embers  of  the  Butlers'  quarrel.  Happily 
he  had  not  succeeded,  and  all  that  Cecil  could  now  do 
was  to  furnish  Fitzwilliam  with  advice  which  it  was 
impossible  for  him  to  follow  —  to  recommend  him  to 
enforce  the  Act  of  Uniformity,  which  had  been  one  of 
the  causes  of  the  mischief;  to  curtail  the  expenses,  al- 
ready pared  so  low  that  barely  a  thousand  soldiers  now 
remained  in  the  four  provinces  ;  and  "  to  devise  means  " 
—  the  old  story —  "  to  increase  the  revenue."  ^ 

But  Elizabeth's  ministers  were  not  utterly  unreason- 
able. Having  failed  to  crush  the  Irish,  they  saw  that 
they  must  endeavour  to  conciliate  them.  The  Presi- 
dency system  was  abandoned,  and  the  Irish  chiefs  re- 
sumed their  authority.  To  make  the  change  of  policy 
complete,  the  Earl  of  Desmond,  who  had  been  sent  to 
London  to  be  arraigned  for  treason,  and  whose  lands 
were  to  have  been  quartered  among  the  spoilers,  was 
permitted  to  return  to  Ireland.  Had  the  confiscations 
been  proceeded  with,  he  would  probably  have  been  put 
out  of  the  way.  It  was  now  thought  imprudent  to 
detain  him  loncrer. 

He  had  never  from  the  first  been  imprisoned  except 
for  a  few  days.  He  had  lived  at  large  on  his  parole, 
and  the  Queen  had  allowed  him  six  and  twenty  shil- 
lings a-week  for  his  maintenance  ;  but  it  was  too  littlo 
for  his  necessities.  House-rent  had  risen  heavily  in 
London,  for  he  had  to  pay  "  twenty  shillings  a-week 
for  his  lodgings,"  ^  and  he  had  been  "  in  great  want 

1  Memorial  for  the  better  government  of  Ireland,  1572 :  MSS.  Ireland, 

2  Desmond  to  the  Council,  September  12, 1572. 
VOL.  X.  35 


546  History  of  England.  [Ch.  xxiv. 

and  misery."  He  told  Leicester  that  often  "  he  had 
not  a  meal's  meat  nor  a  garment  to  shrowd  him  in  ;  "  ^ 
and  long  before  his  confinement  was  ended,  he  was 
ready  to  promise,  if  the  Queen  would  let  him  go,  "  to 
assist  in  setting  forward  the  Book  of  Common  Prayer," 
"  to  restore  quiet  in  Munster,"  "  to  submit  his  private 
quarrels  to  her  Majesty's  judges,"  and,  "  if  she  would 
give  him  shot  and  guns,"  "  to  bring  all  Ireland  to  obe- 
dience." ^ 

Elizabeth  preferred  to  wait  till  she  had  seen  the  re- 
sult of  Perrot's  experiment.  The  shot  and  guns  she 
justly  thought  might  be  used  for  other  purposes  :  and 
thus  three  years  passed  over  Desmond's  head,  while 
London  had  been  seething  with  the  great  Catholic 
conspiracy,  into  some  secrets  of  which  he  had  been 
himself  admitted.  At  length,  weary  of  restraint,  and 
Lady  Desmond  promising  to  present  him  with  an  heir, 
he  began  a  second  time  to  meditate  flight.  His  child, 
if  born  in  England,  might  be  detained  as  a  hostage, 
and  he  applied  to  Martin  Frobisher,  whose  fame  upon 
the  seas  was  emulating  the  rising  distinction  of  Drake, 
to  assist  him. 

Frobisher  was  one  of  the  many  Englishmen  who  had 
held  out  hopes  to  the  Spaniards  that  they  were  ready 
to  sell  their  services.  It  was  thus,  perhaps,  that  Des- 
mond heard  of  and  was  led  to  trust  him.  But  Fro- 
bisher's  treachery  was  like  that  of  Hawkins  ;  he  had 
affected  to  listen  to  Don  Guerau  only  to  betray  him  ; 
in  the  same  spirit  he  accepted  the  advances  of  Des- 
mond, and  when  his  preparations  for  escape  were  com- 
pleted he  gave  notice  to  the  Council.^     Happily  for  the 

1  Desmond  to  Leicester,  February  7,  1571. 

2  Desmond  to  the  Council,  December,  1571. 

8  Declaration  of  Martin  Frobisher,  December  4,  1572:  M8S.  Ireland. 


1572.]  The  Reign  of  Elizabeth.  547 

Earl,  it  was  at  a  time  when  the  collapse  of  English 
power  in  Ireland  was  compelling  Elizabeth  to  retrace 
her  steps.  The  failure  of  Perrot  was  but  one  symptom 
of  the  universal  break  clown.  The  weakness  of  the 
Government  was  one  predominant  cause,  the  meddling 
with  the  national  religion  was  another,  the  atrocious 
local  cruelty  of  the  English  garrisons  was  a  third  ;  but 
two  additional  influences  had  combined  to  stimulate 
a  great  explosion  of  passion.  The  intended  Munster 
settlement  had  come  to  nothing,  and  the  best  advice 
from  Ireland  was  strongly  against  fresh  experiments  in 
that  direction  ;  but,  bent  as  the  Queen  was  upon  sav- 
ing money,  the  scheme  was  intensely  seductive.  Am- 
bitious enterprising  subjects  were  still  ready  to  tell  her 
that,  for  a  grant  which  would  cost  her  nothing  but  her 
signature,  they  were  willing  at  their  own  risk  to  in- 
vade, conquer,  occupy,  and  pay  her  tribute.  The 
theory  was  excellent.  A  mere  handful  of  English  at 
Knockfergus  had  held  at  bay  the  whole  power  of  the 
O'Neils,  and  what  had  foiled  in  one  part  of  the  country 
might  easily  prosper  in  another. 

Sir  Thomas  Smith,  who  had  succeeded  Cecil  as 
Elizabeth's  principal  Secretary,  had  a  son  who  desired 
to  make  his  fortune.  The  strip  of  coast  between 
Knockfergus  and  the  Giant's  Causeway  had  been 
taken  by  the  Scots  from  the  Irish.  Shan  O'Neil's 
Countess  had  gone  back  to  Argyleshire  after  his  death, 
carrying  half  her  people  with  her.  There  were  now 
but  a  few  companies  of  roving  freebooters  left  upon 
the  soil,  which  they  did  not  attempt  to  improve  ;  and 
Sir  T.  Smith  undertook  that  his  son  woukl  take  their 
place  and  hold  the  country  if  the  Queen  would  make 
him  a  present  of  it. 

The  Irish  had  been  made  suspicious  by  their  experi- 


548  Eistory  of  England.  [Ch.  xxiv. 

ence  in  the  South.  As  the  rumours  of  this  new  proj- 
ect reached  them,  the  angry  hum  was  heard  again 
from  all  corners  of  the  island.  They  felt  instinctively 
that  in  this  way  and  this  way  only  they  could  be  event- 
ually conquered ;  and  the  effect  in  Ulster  was  so 
violent  that  Captain  Piers,  who  was  in  command  at 
Knockfergus,  thought  it  necessary  to  send  Cecil  a 
warning. 

"Your  Lordship  knows,"  he  said,  "  that  the  nature 
of  the  Irish  is  such  that  they  would  rather  have  their 
country  lie  altogether  waste  than  that  any  man  but 
themselves  should  inhabit  it.  I  have  devised  the  best 
to  quench  the  imminent  fire,  and  by  feigning  a  letter 
to  be  sent  from  the  Deputy  with  contrary  news,  have 
stayed  the  same.  But  it  will  be  more  perfectly  known 
shortly  to  the  Irishry,  and  they  will  all  revolt."  ^ 

"  The  like  matter,"  wrote  Fitzwilliam,  through 
whom  Piers  sent  his  letter,  "  did  no  good  in  the  South. 
God  grant  this  drive  us  not  to  greater  expense :  the 
Irish  in  a  knot  will  rebel."  ^  The  Deputy  particularly 
dreaded  the  effect  upon  the  Butlers,  whose  jealousies 
and  alarms  would  be  revived.  If  Ormond  became 
disloyal,  he  protested  that  he  would  leave  Ireland  with 
the  next  wind.^ 

The  remonstrances  were  not  attended  to.  Young 
Smith  came  over  in  the  summer  and  established  him- 
self near  Knockfergus.  He  patched  up  a  friendship 
with  the  remnant  of  the  Scots,  saw  nothing  of  enemies, 
and  flattered  himself,  as  so  many  others  had  done,  that 
there  was  no  dano-er  in  Ireland  which  a  sensible  man 
like  himself  need  fear.     He  wrote  home  the  most  brill- 

1  Captain  Piers  to  Cecil,  January  3, 1572:  MSS.  Ireland. 

2  Fitzwilliam  to  Cecil,  March  14:  MS.  Ibid. 
8  Ibid. 


1572.]  TJie  Reign  of  EUzahetJi.  549 

iant  accounts.  He  told  Burghley  that  the  Deputy 
was  a  frifrhtened  fool,  and  beg-a-ed  that  neither  he  nor 
the  Queen  would  attend  to  the  "  croakhigs  "  of  a  do- 
tard. 

He  was  soon  to  find  to  his  cost  that  the  folly  was  not 
Fitzwilliam's  but  his  own. 

The  political  passions  were  set  on  fire  by  attempts 
upon  the  land.  The  religious  fanaticism  was  simulta- 
neously kindled  by  the  news  of  the  massacre  of  St. 
Bartholomew.  After  being  hunted  down  like  vermin, 
or  made  sport  of  for  the  English  officers  who  went 
among  them  "  to  have  some  killincj,"  it  was  but  natu- 
ral  that  the  people  should  hear  with  pleasure  of  the 
same  game  being  played  on  the  other  side.  A  great 
Catholic  Council  was  held  in  Gal  way,  and  another  in 
Donegal.  The  friars  came  out  of  their  hiding  places, 
reoccupied  the  abbeys,  or  ranged  about  the  country  in 
tens  and  twenties,  openly  preaching  a  crusade. 

There  were  Protestants  in  Gal  way,  and  it  is  credit- 
able to  the  native  Irish  that  they  did  not  revenge  their 
own  treatment  upon  them.  There  were  threats  of 
"the  Spanish  Inquisition  ;  "  "  extreme  defiance  against 
all  professors  of  God's  religion,  as  would  pity  Chris- 
tian hearts  to  hear  ;  "  fresh  and  passionate  resolutions 
"  to  subvert  the  English  Government  and  set  up  their 
own  wickedness  ;  "  ^  but  no  one  was  murdered  for  his 
religion,  and  the  worst  that  the  Protestants  had  to 
complain  of  was  that  they  dared  not  show  themselves 
in  the  general  enthusiasm.  Every  trace  of  English 
authority,  however,  was  destroyed  in  Counaught.  Sir 
Brian  MacPhelim  and  Tirloo-h  Lenogh,  when  the 
nights  grew  long,  swept  young  Smith's  herds  into 
the  woods,  stripped  him  of  all  that  he  possessed,  and 
1  Fitzwilliam  to  Elizabeth,  December  7, 1572. 


550  History  of  England.  [Ch.  xxiv. 

pinned  him  into  a  corner  of  Antrim,  where  he  could 
but  shriek  to  Eno;Iand  for  assistance. ^ 

The  Pale  was  no  longer   safe.     Cattle-driving  had 
been  common  at  all  times,  and  was,  "  in  the 

October.  ,  ,,  ,i       -n 

world  s  account,  no  great  matter.  But  now 
the  highland  tribes  of  Wicklow  came  down  in  bands, 
in  open  daylight,  out  of  the  mountains,  with  their  bag- 
pipes blowing.  Kildare,  Queen's  County,  the  very 
meadows  round  Dublin  itself,  were  plundered  with  the 
utmost  audacity.  There  was  no  one  left  to  oppose 
them.  Witli  discreet  coolness  they  spared  the  Irish 
farmers,  and  loaded  their  waggons  with  the  spoils  of 
every  English  settler.  "  The  mischief  overskipped, 
like  the  Passover  in  Egypt,"  and  touched  only  those 
"  who  were  marked  men  in  birth  or  duty  ;  "  and  Fitz- 
william  concluded  that  they  meant  to  make  it  impossi- 
ble for  any  Englishman  to  live  in  the  island,  and  to 
thrust  the  spade  at  their  root."^  "  I  pass  over,"  he 
said,  "  the  ordinary  burnings,  killings,  and  spoilings ;  I 
cannot  help  them  ;  I  may  shake  the  scabbard,  but  I 
have  not  a  sword  to  draw.  Every  Irish  rascal  is  now 
grown  so  insoleiit,  the  names  of  England  and  English- 
men so  hateful,  that  before  God  in  agony  of  soul  I 
doubt  the  event.  There  lyeth  some  secret  mystery  in 
this  universal  rebellious  disposition.  God  bless  her 
Majesty.  I  can  but  die  at  my  post.  I  only  hope  I 
may  die  with  the  loss  of  Ireland,  rather  than  live  in 
England  to  bemoan  it.  As  her  Majesty  will  spend  no 
more  money  here,  we  must  hazard  our  lives  as  we  are, 
even  with  these  falsehearted  Pale  men."  ^ 

Thus  it  seemed  as  if  all  was  over,  and  that  the  only 

1  Thomas  Smith  to  Cecil,  November  21 :  MSS.  Ireland. 

2  Fitzwilliam  to  Elizabeth,  December  7:  MS.  Ibid. 
8  Fitzwilliam  to  Burghley,  October  28:  MS.  Ibid. 


1572.]  The  Reign  of  Elizabeth.  551 

remaining  resource  was  to  revert  to  the  old  ways  and 
govern  Ireland  for  and  through  the  Irish  themselves. 
The  language  of  the  Archbishop  of  Cashel  to  Cardinal 
Alciati  shows  that  before  the  Government  attempted 
to  force  a  religion  upon  them  which  had  not  a  single 
honest  advocate  in  the  whole  nation,  there  was  no  in- 
curable disloyalty.  If  they  were  left  with  their  own 
lands,  their  own  laws,  and  their  own  creed,  the  chiefs 
were  willing;  to  acknowledge  the  English  sovereign. 
A  firm  administration  and  a  rigid  enforcement  of  order 
would  have  been  by  far  the  best  for  Ireland  ;  but  if 
this  could  not  be  because  of  the  expense,  the  policy  of 
conciliation  graciously  carried  out  would  have  been  the 
only  wise  alternative.  The  disappointment  of  the  hopes 
which  they  had  placed  in  Spain  might  have  satisfied 
the  Geraldines  that  they  had  nothing  to  look  for  from 
Philip ;  while  the  point  of  religion  once  disposed  of, 
there  was  no  further  reason  for  their  preferring  Spain 
to  England. 

But  wisdom  after  the  event  is  proverbially  idle.  It 
Avas  necessary  to  pretend  to  conciliate,  and  therefore 
Elizabeth  showed  no  resentment  at  Desmond's  attempt 
to  fly  from  London.  But  she  could  not  bring  herself 
to  acquiesce  in  toleration.  She  did  not  observe  that  in 
Ireland,  where  there  were  no  Protestants,  her  objection 
to  permitting  two  religions  did  not  apply.  She  accepted 
only  what  circumstances  would  not  allow  her  to  refuse  ; 
and  when  she  yielded,  she  yielded  with  reservations 
which  she  would  have  done  better  to  have  passed  over 
in  silence.  She  consented  that  the  Earl  of  Desmond 
should  go  back  to  Munster  and  resume  possession  of  his 
estates  and  his  jurisdiction,  but  she  exacted  a  promise 
from  him  before  he  left  England  that  "  he  would  assist 
and  maintain  all  the  laws  established  by  Act  of  Parlia- 


552  History  of  England.  [Ch,  xxiV. 

ment  for  maintenance  of  true  religion;"  that  "he 
would  suppress  the  Papal  authority,  remove  from  their 
sees  the  prelates  in  communion  with  Rome,  and  assist, 
encourage,  and  protect  the  ministers,  bishops,  and 
preachers  sent  from  England  to  convert  the  Irish  to 
the  Reformation."  ^ 

The  Earl,  of  course,  consented.  Conditions  extorted 
as  the  price  of  freedom  were  rarely  refused  in  words, 
and  were  as  rarely  observed  when  the  doors  of  the 
prison  were  thrown  open.  The  Government  felt  the 
weakness  of  their  hold  upon  him.  An  order  was 
signed  for  his  release  on  the  21st  of  January.  On  his 
arrival  in  Dublin,  he  was  again  arrested  and  thrown 
into  the  Castle,  and  a  fresh  list  of  eno;ao;ements  was 
submitted  to  his  acceptance.  He  was  required  to  dis- 
pense with  the  retinue  which  formed  the  usual  body- 
guard of  the  Irish  chiefs,  to  undertake  to  disarm  his 
castles,  and  leave  the  English  undisturbed  in  possession 
of  Castlemayne  and  Castlemartyr.  The  Queen  had  in- 
sisted that  "  coyn  and  livery  "  should  be  continued  to 
the  Earl  of  Ormond  ;  his  rival  was  to  abandon  it  for- 
ever. There  were  to  be  no  more  armed  assemblies  in 
the  provinces,  no  Brehon  law,  and  justice  was  to  be 
administered  according  to  English  forms  by  judges  un- 
der the  writs  of  the  Viceroy.  Excellent  regulations, 
all  of  them,  if  introduced  by  England  with  the  strong 
hand,  or  if  sanctioned  by  Desmond  from  a  conviction 
of  their  inherent  fitness.  But  as  the  matter  stood,  the 
Earl  was  required  to  do  everything  which  England  had 
struggled  to  do  by  force,  and  had  failed.  The  Govern- 
ment had  sent  him  back  to  his  people  because  he  alone 
was  able  to  control  them  ;  and  it  was  idle  to  expect 

1  Note  of  articles  to  be  observed  by  the  Earl  of  Desmond.    Abridged. 
January  3,  1573 :  MSS.  Ireland. 


1573.1  Tlie  Reign  of  Elizaheth.  553 

that  the  Queen  could  bind  him  now  by  encrarrements 
whicli  his  liberation  was  sufficient  evidence  that  she 
could  not  enforce. 

Wiser  advice  had  been  given  by  Burghley's  corre- 
spondent. Tremayne  had  recommended  that  immedi- 
ately on  Desmond's  return  the  Irish  noblemen  should 
be  invited  to  meet  in  a  general  council.  They  should 
be  told  distinctly  that  the  Queen  would  not  part  with 
the  sovereignty  of  the  country,  but  that  she  was  ready 
to  listen  to  their  opinions  as  to  the  manner  in  which  the 
government  should  be  administered.  If  they  on  their 
part  would  undertake  to  support  the  Crown  and  pre- 
vent oppression  and  anarchy,  the  English  troops  should 
be  withdrawn.  The  administration  of  Sidnev  had  not 
been  without  effect.  Wherever  order  had  been  con- 
tinuously preserved  they  had  found  the  advantage  of 
it,  and  Tremayne  was  convinced  that  the  lesson  had 
not  been  thrown  away.  If  the  people  were  trusted, 
he  believed  that  they  would  deserve  their  trust,  and 
that  if  the  garrisons  were  removed  they  would  settle 
down  in  peace. ^ 

The  experiment  might  not  have  succeeded,  but  as 
the  abolition  of  the  new  Bishops  and  clergy  must  have 
followed,  it  might  have  been  worth  trying  ;  Avhile  con- 
ciliation alloyed  by  distrust  was  certain  to  fail. 

Unfortunately,  a  fresh  chimera  had  taken  possession 
of  the  English  imagination,  and  the  Queen  had  been 
persuaded  tiiat  conquest  was  still  possible,  though  it 
was  to  cost  her  nothing.  The  settlement  of  Munster 
had  broken  down  because  it  was  undertaken  by  greedy 
adventurers  in  the  mere  spirit  of  personal  acquisition  ; 
and  Smith  had  fared  no  better  in  Antrim,  because  he 

1  MS.   in  TremajTie's  hand.     Endorsed  by  Burghley,  "For  Ireland. 
Diminution  of  Charges." 


554  History  of  England.  [Ch.  xxiy. 

had  gone  to  work  with  insufficient  means,  and  with- 
out those  high  and  pubHc  aims  which  woukl  make  suc- 
cess either  possible  or  desirable.  An  English  noble- 
man now  came  forward  to  do  battle  with  the  Irish  giant 
like  a  knidit  of  King  Arthiu-'s  table. 

"Walter  Devereux,  Lord  Hereford,  was  one  of  the 
few  peers  who,  in  the   Norfolk  conspiracy,  had  been 
true  throughout  to  the  Queen.     He  had  been  selected 
to  command  with  Hunsdon  in  the  Northern  rebellion, 
and  more  than  once   at    moments    of  danger  to  take 
charge  of  the  Queen   of  Scots.     As  belonging  to  the 
old  blood   he  had  especially  recommended  himself  to 
Elizabeth's  favoiu-  by  his  loyalty,  and  in  1572  he  had 
been  rewarded  for  his  services  by  the  earldom  of  Es- 
ses.    He  was  young,  enthusiastic,  generous  ;  the  first 
conspicuous  representative  of  that  illustrious  company 
who  revived  in  the  England  of  Ehzabeth  the  genius  of 
mediaeval  chivaliy.      He  was   burning  to  deserve  his 
honours,  and  in  Ireland  —  the  despair  of  statesmen,  the 
home  of  the  evil  demons  of  anarchy,  Papistry,  and  con- 
fusion—  he  saw  the  opportunity  which  he  desired.     To 
the  recovery  of  Ireland  he    determined  to  consecrate 
his  hfe  and  fortune ;  not,  he  said,  for  any  personal  am- 
bition, "  but  being  of  good  devotion  to  employ  himself 
in  the  service  of  her   Majesty    for  the    benefit  of  his 
country."     Other  enterprises  had  failed  for    want  of 
unity  or    greatness  of  pui-pose.     Essex  was  ready  to 
undertake  the  entire  outlay  and  the  entire  responsibil- 
itv.     He  too,  like  Smith,  saw  in  the  country  deserted 
bv  the  Scots  the  most  favourable  position  to  make  good 
his  footing  ;  and  he  petitioned  the  Queen  to  make  over 
to  him  "  that  part  of  Ulster  called  Chandeboy,"  the 
district  enclosed  by  a  line  from  Belfast  to  the  foot  of 
Lour^h  Neaf^h,  and  by  the  river    Bann    from  Lough 


1573.]  Tlie  Reign  of  Elizabeth.  5oo 

Neagli  to  the  sea.  He  required  autlioritv  "  to  build 
castles  and  forts,"  "  to  plant  towns  and  incorporate 
them  bv  charters,"  "  power  to  make  laws  necessary  for 
his  government,"  "  power  to  levy  war  upon  the  Irish," 
"  to  assemble  forces,"  "  to  spoil,  besiege,  rase,  or  de- 
stroy the  towns  and  castles  of  Ii'ish  outlaM-s,"  "  to  an- 
noy them  by  fire  and  sword,  or  any  manner  of  death," 
'•  to  take  to  his  use  the  goods  and  chattels  of  traitors, 
pirates,  and  felons,  with  all  shipwrecks  that  should 
happen  within  the  circle  of  his  grant ;  ^  power  also 
—  *'  hard,"  as  Burghley  remarked,  "  to  be  granted  for 
anv  natural  subject  "  — "  power  to  make  slaves  and  to 
chain  to  ships  and  galleys  all  or  any  such  of  the  Irishrj 
or  Scots  Irish  as  should  be  condemned  of  treason,  for 
the  better  furtherance  of  his  enterprise." 

On  the  Queen's  consent  to  these  demands,  the  Earl 
bound  himself  to  conquer  the  district  out  of  his  own 
resources,  and  after  four  years  of  possession  to  pay  a 
hundred  pounds  a  year  to  the  treasuiy.  He  was  not 
alone  or  unsupported :  many  gentlemen,  from  good 
motives  and  bad,  had  volunteered  to  take  shares  in  the 
expedition.  Lord  Hunsdon,  Sir  Arthur  Champer- 
nowne,  Sir  Thomas  Wilford,  Sir  Ralph  Bourchier,  and 
several  more,  were  ready  to  go  with  him  in  person,  or 
to  send  their  sons  and  servants. 

Such  was  the  proposal  now  submitted  to  Elizabeth 
for  a  new  settlement.  In  its  original  form  it  infringed 
upon  the  Crown  rights,  and  Sir  Henry  Sidney  recom- 
mended Burghley  to  insert  provisions  for  the  protec- 
tion of  the  Sovereign.     "  Independent  jurisdictions," 

1  Opposite  this  paragraph  Burghley  writes :  —  "  It  were  good  that  ship- 
wrecks were  more  charitably  used  for  the  relief  of  the  owners.''  —  Offer  of 
the  Earl  of  Essex  touching  the  inhabiting  of  the  North  of  Ireland,  May  26, 
1573 :  MSS.  IrdaruL 


556  History  of  England.  [Ch.  xxiv. 

he  said,  "were  the  foundation  of  Irish  disturbances  ;" 
and  akhough  the  loyalty  of  Essex  himself  was  above 
suspicion,  "  security  was  necessary  that  such  as  might 
succeed  him  should  live  in  order  and  obedience." 
With  this,  and  some  other  unimportant  reservations, 
the  petition  was  granted.  The  Queen  gave  Essex  a 
last  caution  to  "  win  the  Irish  by  mildness,"  and  he 
prepared  to  go.^ 

The  military  force  was  to  be  irresistible.  It  was  to 
consist  of  1200  men,  who  were  to  be  settled  on  the  land 
as  they  took  possession  of  it,  and  to  do  service  in  the 
field  for  their  tenures.  The  Queen  undertook  to  pay 
half  the  wages  for  the  first  year,  and  she  advanced  Es- 
sex 10,000Z.  for  the  expenses  of  his  outfit,  which  were 
secured  upon  his  English  estates.  The  loan  was  to  be 
repaid  in  yearly  instalments  of  1000?.,  and,  in  defiiult, 
a  manor  of  that  value  was  annually  to  lapse  to  her  Maj- 
esty.^ So  provided,  in  August,  1573,  the  young  Earl 
and  his  companions  set  out  upon  their  adventurous 
enterprise.  A  few  years  before.  Sir  Henry  Sidney's 
progress  through  Ulster  had  been  gravely  compared  to 
Alexander's  journey  into  Bactria.  The  central  plains 
of  Australia,  the  untrodden  jungles  of  Borneo,  or  the 

1  Essex  to  Elizabeth,  November  2.  Elizabeth's  personal  carelessness  in 
affairs  of  the  greatest  consequence  is  curiously  illustrated  in  the  history  of 
this  transaction.  Four  months  later,  when  the  results  began  to  be  doubtful, 
she  sent  Burghley  a  series  of  questions,  as  to  the  Earl's  objects —  whether 
the  country  which  had  been  granted  to  him  was  inhabited,  and  if  so  what 
he  proposed  to  do  with  the  people  —  whether  they  were  to  be  expelled,  or 
whether  English  colonists  were  to  be  introduced  among  them?  How  they 
were  to  be  governed?  How  they  were  "to  have  use  of  the  Christian 
religion  ?  What  were  their  laws  and  customs,  and  to  whom  the  lands  were 
supposed  by  themselves  to  belong?  —  Doubts  moved  by  the  Queen's 
Majesty,  touching  the  Earl  of  Esses,  whereof  she  requires  to  be  resolved, 
December,  1573. 

The  questions  were  most  proper ;  so  proper  that  they  ought  to  have  beea 
asked  before  the  grant  was  made. 

2  Kemembrances  for  the  Earl  of  Essex,  August,  1573. 


1573.]  The  Reign  of  Elizabeth.  557 

still  vacant  spaces  in  our  maps  of  Africa,  alone  now 
on  the  globe's  surface  represent  districts  as  unknown 
and  mysterious  as  the  northeast  ano-le  of  Ireland  in 
the  reiffu  of  the  sreat  foundress  of  the  modern  British 
Empire.  The  wolves  still  roamed  in  the  forests.  In 
the  plots  or  charts  which  began  to  be  made,  the  seas 
are  peopled  with  monsters  vaster  than  the  northern 
serpent.  Bare-legged  chieftains,  with  mail  and  battle- 
axe,  stride  across  Donegal  and  Londonderry,  the  Fin- 
gals  of  legend,  half  believed  to  have  palpable  existence. 
The  three  southern  provinces  had  been  explored  with 
tolerable  care  ;  but  Ulster  was  a  desert,  heard  of  only 
as  a  battle  ground  where  the  O'Donnells,  the  O'Neils, 
and  the  Redshanks  had  murdered  each  otlier  from 
immemorial  time.  The  fortunes  of  Shan  O'Neil  had 
thrown  a  brief  light  into  its  recesses,  but  only  to  reveal 
a  life  more  wild  and  savage  than  the  most  random  im- 
agination could  have  pictured.  When  Shan  was  gone, 
the  darkness  settled  down  again ;  and  Captain  Piers, 
with  his  garrison  at  Knockfergus,  and  young  Smith, 
who  had  taken  shelter  with  him,  did  but  hang  to  the 
shore  like  shell-fish,  and  durst  not  venture  beyond 
their  walls. 

This  was  the  country  which  a  company  of  romantic 
English  youths  had  come  to  occupy.  Sir  Peter  Carew, 
scenting  a  chance  of  indemnifying  himself  for  his  Mun- 
ster  disappointment,  gave  the  expedition  the  benefit  of 
a  soldier's  arm  and  some  Irish  experience.  And  with 
servants  and  soldiers,  Essex  had  under  his  command 
the  strongest  English  force  ever  yet  collected  at  any 
one  spot  in  Ireland.  Antonio  de  Guaras  had  prepared 
the  way  by  sending  word  to  the  chiefs,  that  an  English 
■  Lord  was  bringing  over  an  army  to  cut  all  their  throats. 
Rowland  Turner,  an  English  priest,  added  in  a  post- 


558  History  of  England.  [Ch.  xxiv. 

script,  that  if  they  allowed  themselves  to  be  robbed  of 
their  country,  "  they  would  be  base,  godless,  cowardly 
slaves."  1  Neither  a  Spaniard  nor  an  Englishman  was 
required  to  teach  the  Irish  resistance  wlien  their  land 
was  threatened.  The  Scots  had  made  an  alliance  with 
the  O'Neils  and  Sir  Brian  MacPhelim,  and  while  Es- 
sex was  still  upon  the  seas,  Down,  Newry,  and  Knock- 
fergus  itself,  all  but  the  castle,  were  in  flames,  lest  they 
should  form  a  shelter  for  the  invading  force. 

The  expedition  began    with    misfortune.     A  storm 
September,     "^i^persed  the  fleet ;  some  of  the  vessels  were 
driven  down  channel,   some  to    the    Isle  of 
Man.     Essex  himself  landed  at  the  end  of  August,  at 
Carrickfergus ;  and  by  degrees,  but  not  before  precious 
days  of  fine  weather  had  been  wasted,  the  whole  force 
was  assembled.     At  first,  as  usual,  not  an  enemy  ap- 
peared, nor  any  signs  of  an  enemy  ;  the  country  was 
beautiful  in  the  dry  days  of  early  autumn  ;  there  was 
grass  for  the  horses  and  meat  for  the  men,  and  the  Earl 
could  scarcely  believe  that  the  smiling  fields  and  the 
smooth-spoken  people  were  the  Ireland  and  the  Irish 
race  of  whom  he  had  heard  so  terrible  a  report.     He 
set  out  a  proclamation  that  he  was  come  to  be  a  father 
to  Ulster,  and  his  only  fear  was,  that  the  difficulties 
would  be  too  slight  to  test  his  skill  and  courage.     The 
Scots  fled  to  their  fastnesses  at  Red  Bay.     Tirlogh  Le- 
nogh  lay  in  his  castle  at  Lough  Neagh.  The  tremendous 
Sir  Brian  came  in  person,  and  made  his  submission  on 
his  knees.     Sir  Brian  from  henceforth  promised  to  be  a 
loyal  subject ;  and  for  a  pledge  of  his  fidelity,  placed 
10,000  cattle  at  the  new  Governor's  disposal.^ 

A  few  days  dissolved  the  illusion.     The  Irish  chief 

1  Antonio  de  Guaras  to  the  Irish  chiefs,  June,  1573.  —  MSS.  Ireland. 

2  Essex  to  the  Council,  September  10 :  MS.  Ibidi 


1573.]  TJie  Reign  of  Elizabeth.  559 

had  desired  merely  to  ascertain  the  number  of  the  in- 
vaders :  three  nights  after  he  disappeared,  and  with  the 
morning,  his  own  herds,  and  all  the  rest  which  Essex 
had  collected,  had  vanished  with  him.  The  troops  were 
reduced  to  salt  beef,  where  the  supplies  of  food  but  a 
few  hours  before  had  appeared  inexhaustible.  They 
had  brought  corn,  but  there  were  no  mills  to  grind  it ; 
before  they  had  been  on  shore  a  fortnight,  they  were 
mutinous  for  want  of  food,  while  Essex  could  only  con- 
sole himself  with  the  determination  that  "  he  would  not 
be  so  abused  again."  "  He  had  begun  with  lenity," 
for  the  future  he  would  be  strict  and  severe.^  It  was 
forever  the  same  story  with  Ireland.  Men  came  there 
full  of  confidence  and  enthusiasm.  The  inhabitants 
were  so  agreeable  that  they  Avere  credited  with  all  the 
virtues,  and  the  failures  in  manao-ino:  them  were  set 
doA\Ti  to  a  want  of  understanding,  or  a  want  of  sympa- 
thy with  their  character.  Disappointment  followed, 
and  then  anger  and  violence,  with  the  old  never-faihng 
results.  The  Irish  had  laughed  at  Essex's  fine  speeches, 
and  in  time  they  ridiculed  his  threats ;  a  fortnight 
later  news  came  that  young  Smith  had  been  murdered  ; 
and  that  the  kerne  who  had  been  taken  into  employ- 
ment to  collect  food  for  the  army,  had  run  away  and 
joined  MacPhclim.  The  season  broke  up.  Tlie  rain 
fell ;  the  wind  blew  ;  the  rivers  rose,  and  a  campaign  in 
the  interior  so  late  in  the  year  was  not  to  be  thought  of. 
Essex  was  obliged  to  entrench  himself  at  Belfast,  and 
wait  for  the  spring ;  while  the  Irish,  to  whom  weather 
was  of  no  consequence,  would  not  leave  him  to  the 
rest  which  was  all  that  he  now  desired.  They  hung 
about  the  camp  in  the  day,  cutting  off  the  foraging  par- 
ties, "  never  offering  fight  but  upon  great  advantage," 
1  Essex  to  the  Council,  September  29 :  MSS.  Ireland. 


660  History  of  England.  [Ch.  xxiy. 

and  flying  when  pursued,  faster  than  the  English  could 
follow.  If  any  of  them  were  now  and  then 
ovem  er.  ].j]]g^|^  ^j-jg  J^een  for  the  dead  rising  at  night 
out  of  the  forest,  filled  the  soldiers  with  wonder  and 
fear.  The  November  storms  coming  upon  them  while 
they  were  imperfectly  sheltered,  extinguished  finally 
the  ardour  of  the  volunteers  which  the  first  disappoint- 
ment had  cooled,  and  home-sickness  soon  thinned  the 
camp  of  all  who  could  afford  to  leave  it.  Lord  Rich, 
who  had  accompanied  the  expedition  out  of  friendship 
for  Essex,  found  that  circumstances  required  his  pres- 
ence in  England.  Carew  discovered  that  a  visionary 
nobleman  was  no  leader  for  a  hungry  man  to  serve  un- 
der ;  and  "  the  private  adventurers,"  generally,  remem- 
bering "  the  delicacies  of  their  own  firesides,"  and 
"  wanting  resolute  minds  to  endure  travail,"  followed 
the  infectious  example.  The  soldiers,  not  being  in  the 
Queen's  service,  began  to  say,  "  that  Essex  was  a  pri- 
vate man,  whom  they  were  free  to  leave  if  they 
pleased,"  and  the  Irish  understood  their  humour,  and 
fed  the  rising  discontent.  O'Donnell  sent  woi'd  that 
he  would  submit  to  the  Queen,  and  hold  his  land  at  her 
hands,  but  that  he  owed  no  allegiance  to  a  subject  who 
had  come  over  for  "pi'ivate  gain;"  and  Essex,  in  the 
blight  which  had  overtaken  him,  was  driven,  after  a 
few  weeks'  trial,  to  request  Elizabeth  to  "  allow  the 
army  to  appear  hers,"  "  that  he  might  with  better  war- 
rant at  least  punish  mutiny  and  the  base  ignobility  of 
the  soldiers'  minds."  ^  He  sent  to  Dublin  to  Fitzwil- 
liam  for  help,  or  at  least  for  advice.  Fitzwilliam  could 
not  help  him  ;  and  not  perhaps  wholly  unamused  at  the 
collapse  of  an  enterprise  which  had  been  ushered  in 
with  so  loud  a  flourish,  not  wholly  unpleased  at  so  plain 

1  Essex  to  Elizabeth,  November  2:  MSS.  Ireland. 


1573.]  TJie  Reign  of  Elizabeth.  561 

a  proof  that  others  could  fail  as  well  as  he,  "  the  Lord 
Deputy  sat  in  his  chair  and  smiled."  ^ 

The  Earl  in  his  despair  poured  out  his  griefs  to  Burgh- 
ley,  whom  he  called  his  father.  "  He  had  not  come  to 
Ireland,"  he  said,  "for  his  own  advantage,"  but  only 
in  the  service  of  his  country.  He  was  ready  to  sur- 
render his  patent,  saving  the  rights  and  claims  of  the 
gentlemen  who  had  shared  the  risk  with  him,  if  the 
Queen  would  take  the  control  of  the  expedition,  and 
would  mve  him  a  connnission  as  commandino;  in  her 
name. 

When  matters  had  thus  arrived  at  extremity,  news 
came  that  the  Earl  of  Desmond  had  escaped  from  Dub- 
lin Castle.  He  had  refused  to  accept  the  last  conditions 
which  had  been  demanded  of  him.  He  had  protested 
against  the  breach  of  faith  which  had  placed  him  again 
in  arrest,  and  his  secret  friends,  encouraged  by  the  dis- 
aster which  had  fallen  upon  Essex,  opened  the  doors  of 
his  prison.  His  return  to  Munster,  when  he  was  clear 
of  the  city,  was  a  trium})hal  procession.  Kildare  had 
lost  his  place  as  chief  of  the  Norman  Irish  by  trimming 
with  the  Eno-lish  Government.  Thev  had  transferred 
their  allegiance  and  their  enthusiasm  to  his  kinsman, 
and  "'  there  was  now  no  God  nor  })rince  with  the  peo- 
ple of  the  Geraldines  but  the  Earl  of  Desmond,  and  no 
law  feared  by  them  but  Desmond's  heste."  He  crossed 
the  Pale  into  Tipperary  like  the  nucleus  of  a  comet, 
the  wild  horsemen  o-atheriiiii;  in  clouds  and  streaming 
in  his  track.  The  Countess  Joined  him,  and  both  to- 
gether Hung  off'  the  hated  "  English  apjjarel,"  ^md  ap- 
peared at  the  head  of  their  warriors  in  the  costume  of 
Irish  chieftains.  They  went  first  to  Limerick,  where 
the  citizens  marched  out  in  procession  to  receive  them. 

1  Essex  to  Burghlcy,  November  2:  MSS.  Ireland. 

VOL.  X.  ac 


562  History  of  England.  [Ch.  xxiv. 

Set  free,  as  he  supposed,  by  his  second  arrest  from  all 

December. 


his  engagements,  the  Earl  issued  a  proclama- 


tion that  no  sheriff,  or  constable,  or  minister 
of  English  law,  should  execute  office  in  Munster.  A 
company  of  soldiers  who  had  been  left  in  Castletown 
were  expelled.  Castlemartyr  was  taken  by  the  Senes- 
chal of  Imokclly.  Castlemayne  had  cost  Perrot  two 
weary  months  of  labour  to  reduce.  On  Christmas-eve, 
when  the  garrison  were  sleeping  off  their  deep  draughts 
of  ale,  a  treacherous  porter  opened  the  gates,  and  let  in 
Fitzmaurice  and  his  band.  Adare  Abbe}'  "  was  stored 
again  with  friars,"  and  the  Catholic  Bishop  of  Lim- 
erick, Hugh  Larry,  whom  Perrot  had  deposed,  was 
reinstalled  in  his  Cathedral.^ 

Fitzwilliam  sent  a  pursuivant  to  Desmond  to  order 
him  to  disperse  his  followers,  and  return  to  Dublin. 
He  might  as  well  have  whistled  to  the  eagles  of  Dunloe. 
Desmond  answered  that,  "  as  long  as  he  was  allowed  to 
rule  his  own  country  in  peace,  he  would  do  no  hurt  to 
her  Majesty's  subjects,"  but  he  would  not  place  himself 
again  in  the  power  of  her  officers,  of  whom  he  had  seen 
enough  and  too  much  already .^ 

The  shock  was  felt  in  the  castle  of  every  L'ish  chief. 
A  wild  meeting  was  held  in  Connaught,  where  Shan 
Burke,  Clanrickard's  son,  "  drew  liis  skene,  and  wished 
it  were  driven  into  his  belly  if  ever  he  submitted  to  the 
Deputy  except  on  his  own  conditions,  and  swore  he 
would  make  prey  to  the  gates  of  Dublin."  ^  The  situ- 
ation of  Essex,  already  deplorable,  was  now  hopeless. 
Misfortunes  gathered  one  upon  the  other.  He  could 
get  no  fresh  meat.     His  bread  ran  short.     The  con- 

1  N.  Walshe  to  Burghley,  November  24,  November  30,  December  —  : 
MSS.  Ireland. 

2  Captain  Bouchier  to  Fitzwilliam,  December  2,  5,  6 :  MS.  Ibid. 
8  MS.  Ibid. 


1573.]  The  Reign  of  Mizabeth.  563 

tractors  had  been  fraudulent,  and  had  sent  bad  malt, 
bj  which  the  soldiers  were  poisoned.  Tlie  horses  were 
stolen  or  killed  for  food.  Desertion,  sickness,  famine, 
together  thinned  his  ranks  ;  and  three  months  after  his 
landing,  out  of  twelve  hundred  men,  he  had  but  two 
hundred  left  who  were  fit  for  duty.^  "  The  Devonshire 
men,"  sent  by  Sir  Arthur  Champernowne,  the  coun- 
trymen of  Drake  and  Hawkins,  the  very  bone  and 
sinew  of  the  roving  navy,  forgot  their  nature  in  the 
Irish  swamps.  "  The  men  of  Devon,"  wrote  Essex, 
"  came  here  well  appointed  and  likely  to  look  at,  but 
in  their  doings  they  are  the  worst  I  ever  saw.  Mu- 
tinous in  camp,  and  cowardly  in  the  field,  when  they 
saw  likelihood  of  work,  they  began  to  steal  away. 
Some  I  caught  and  hanged.  The  rest  would  rather 
starve  than  come  to  service.  The  gentlemen  have 
sent  me  only  such  as  they  were  glad  to  rid  their  coun- 
try of.  I  am  ashamed  that  England  should  breed  such 
weakhearted  men  as  come  hither."^ 

Without  waiting  for  Elizabeth's  resolution,  the  Earl 
said  decisively  that  he  must  abandon  his  grant.  He 
was  ruined,  and  he  must  endeavour  to  bear  it.  He 
could  not  keep  his  soldiers.  They  told  him  that  they 
had  joined  him  out  of  personal  good-will,  and  would  stay 
no  longer  than  they  pleased.  "  The  war  could  only  be 
carried  on  by  the  Governor  of  the  realm,  whom  he 
would  himself  obey  and  serve  as  a  private  man."^ 

Never  was  illusion  more  rapidly  dissi})ated.  The 
Southern  adventurers,  had  Carew  not  fallen  across  the 
Butlers,  and  had  the  rest  been  allowed  to  deal  as  they 
pleased  with  the  Irish  savages,  might  have  effected  con- 

1  Captain  Malby  to  Cecil,  December  8:  MSS.  Ireland. 

2  Essex  to  the  Ojuncil,  December  11. 

8  Same  to  the  Same,  December  3 :  MSS.  Ireland. 


664  History  of  England.  [Ch.  xxiv. 

siderable  things.  Encumbered  with  no  high-minded 
sentiments,  and  bent  only  upon  cuhivating  the  soil  and 
growing  rich  by  the  possession  of  it,  they  would  have 
solved  tlie  Irish  problem  by  destroying  the  Celts,  as 
their  descendants  in  every  colony  Avhich  they  have 
formed  have  destroyed  the  native  races  who  have  re- 
fused to  be  subjugated. 

But  Essex  was  a  dreamer  and  an  enthusiast.  He 
was  like  the  great  Manchegan  whose  adventures  were 
growing  at  that  same  moment  in  the  brain  of  Cervantes. 
If  not  in  genius,  yet  in  beauty  of  disposition,  in  disin- 
terested nobleness,  and  in  the  worldly  ill-success  which 
follows  men  of  such  natures  and  temperament  as  its 
shadow,  he  might  have  been  compared  to  Cervantes 
himself. 

Sir  Thomas  Wilford,  who  remained  with  him  Avhen 
others  went,  softened  the  account  of  the  disaster  by 
pointing  out  its  causes,  and  could  not  restrain  himself 
from  expressing  his  admiration  of  the  fortitude  with 
which  the  Earl  bore  up  against  his  failure. 

"  The  Irish  nation,"  he  said,  "  is  more  enraged  with 
the  fury  of  desperation  than  ever  I  have  known  them 
heretofore.  They  suppose  these  wars  are  taken  in 
hand  by  her  Majesty's  subjects  and  not  by  herself. 
They  say  they  are  no  rebels,  and  do  but  defend  their 
lands  and  goods.  Our  own  people  through  long  peace 
in  England  have  lost  the  minds  of  soldiers,  and  are 
become  weak  in  body  to  endure  ti'avail  and  miserable  in 
mind  to  sustain  the  force  of  the  enemy.  And  this,  no 
question,  doth  grow  of  the  fat  delicate  soil  and  long 
peace  had  in  England,  and  therefore  nothing  more  ne- 
cessary for  a  prince  that  mindeth  to  keep  his  countries 
and  dominions  than  some  exercise  of  war.  This  peo- 
ple begin  to  know  their  own  force  and  strength,  and 


1573.]  The  Reign  of  Elizabeth.  565 

have  learnt  the  use  and  sorts  of  weapons,  their  places 
of  strength  and  advantage,  and  therefore  high  time  to 
expulse  them  for  fear  of  utter  ruin  to  the  whole.  My 
Lord,  it  is  not  a  subject's  purse  and  countenance  must 
do  this.  It  must  be  her  Majesty's  only.  It  were  the 
greatest  pity  in  the  world  that  so  noble  and  worthy  a 
man  as  this  Earl  should  consume  himself  in  this  enter- 
])rise.  I  know  and  perceive  he  shooteth  not  at  the 
i>ain  and  revenue  of  the  matter,  but  rather  the  honour 
and  credit  of  the  cause.  If  her  Majesty  did  know  his 
noble  and  honourable  intent,  having  a  body  and  mind 
invincible  to  endure  all  miseries  and  extremities,  so 
well  as  we  do  know  him,  she  would  not  suffer  him  to 
quail  for  half  the  kingdom  of  Ireland."  ^ 

So  the  year  1573  ended  in  the  universal  destruction 
of  the  English  power  in  Ireland.  The  Queen,  unable 
to  make  up  her  mind  to  the  expense  of  fresh  exertions, 
acquiesced  in  what  she  could  not  prevent.  As  she  had 
no  longer  any  prospect  of  capturing  Desmond  she  con- 
sented to  pardon  him  ;  and  she  read  the  Irish  one  more 
page  of  the  lesson  most  fatal  in  the  end  to  their  own 
welfare  —  that  England  might  be  defied  with  impunity. 
Fitzwilliam  repeated  his  demand  to  be  allowed  to 
resign.  "  He  had  no  soldiers,  no  money,  no  help,  no 
favour.  He  was  a  poor  refuse  man  thrown  into  his 
place  to  serve  a  turn.  He  had  done  his  best  and  could 
do  no  more,  and  he  could  only  hope  that  his  successor, 
whoever  that  might  be,  would  be  more  fairly  dealt 
with."  2 

1  Sir  Thomas  Wilford  to  Bur^hley,  December  1, 1573:  MSS.  Ireland. 

2  Fitzwilliam  to  the  Council,  December  23 :  MS.  Ibid. 


END    OF   VOL.   X. 


J^ 


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